1ሕዝቡ ሁሉ “ከውሃ በር” ፊት ለፊት በሚገኘው አደባባይ ላይ እንደ አንድ ሰው ተሰበሰቡ፤ ከዚያም እግዚአብሔር ለእስራኤል ያዘዘውን የሙሴ ሕግ መጽሐፍ እንዲያመጣ ለጸሓፊው ለዕዝራ ነገሩት።
2ስለዚህ ካህኑ ዕዝራ በሰባተኛው ወር የመጀመሪያ ቀን ወንዶች፣ ሴቶችና ማስተዋል የሚችሉ ሁሉ በተገኙበት ጉባኤ ፊት የሕጉን መጽሐፍ አመጣ። 3እርሱም “በውሃ በር” ትይዩ ወደሚገኘው አደባባይ ፊቱን አቅንቶ፣ በወንዶች፣ በሴቶችና በሚያስተውሉ ሰዎች ሁሉ ፊት በመቆም፣ ከማለዳ ጀምሮ እስከ ቀትር ድረስ ድምፁን ከፍ አድርጎ አነበበ፤ ሕዝቡም ሁሉ የሕጉን መጽሐፍ በጥሞና አደመጡ።
4ጸሓፊው ዕዝራ ለዚሁ ተብሎ በተሠራውና ከፍ ብሎ በሚገኘው የዕንጨት መድረክ ላይ ቆሞ ነበር፤ በአጠገቡም በስተ ቀኙ በኩል መቲትያ፣ ሽማዕ፣ ዓናያ፣ ኦርዮ፣ ኬልቅያስ፣ መዕሤያ፣ በስተ ግራው በኩል ደግሞ ፈዳያ፣ ሚሳኤል፣ መልክያ፣ ሐሱም፣ ሐሽበዳ፣ ዘካርያስና ሜሱላም ቆመው ነበር።
5ዕዝራም መጽሐፉን ከፈተ፤ ከሕዝቡ ከፍ ብሎ ቆሞ ስለ ነበረ፣ ሁሉም ያዩት ነበረ፣ በከፈተውም ጊዜ ሕዝቡ ሁሉ ቆሙ። 6ዕዝራም ታላቁን አምላክ እግዚአብሔርን አመሰገነ፤ ሕዝቡም ሁሉ እጆቻቸውን በማንሣት፣ “አሜን! አሜን!” ብለው መለሱ፤ ከዚህ በኋላ በግምባራቸው ወደ መሬት ተደፍተው ለእግዚአብሔር ሰገዱ።
7ሌዋውያኑ ኢያሱ፣ ባኒ፣ ሰራብያ፣ ያሚን፣ ዓቁብ፣ ሳባታይ፣ ሆዲያ፣ መዕሤያ፣ ቆሊጣስ፣ ዓዛርያስ፣ ዮዛባት፣ ሐናን፣ ፌልያ ሕዝቡ በዚያው ቆመው እንዳሉ ሕጉን አስረዷቸው።
8ሕዝቡ የሚነበበውን መረዳት እንዲችሉ ከእግዚአብሔር ሕግ መጽሐፍ ካነበቡላቸው በኋላ ይተረጕሙላቸውና ይተነትኑላቸው ነበር።
9ከዚያም አገረ ገዥው ነህምያ፣ ካህኑና ጸሓፊው ዕዝራ፣ ሕዝቡንም የሚያስተምሩት ሌዋውያን፣ “ይህች ቀን ለአምላካችሁ ለእግዚአብሔር የተቀደሰች ናት፤ አትዘኑ፤ አታልቅሱም” አሏቸው፤ ምክንያቱም ሕዝቡ ሁሉ የሕጉን ቃል በሚሰሙበት ጊዜ ያለቅሱ ነበር።
10ነህምያም፣ “ሂዱ፤ ጥሩ ምግብ በመብላት፣ ጣፋጩን በመጠጣት ደስ ይበላችሁ፤ ምንም የተዘጋጀ ነገር ለሌላቸውም ካላችሁ ላይ ከፍላችሁ ላኩላቸው። ይህች ቀን ለጌታችን የተቀደሰች ናት፤ የእግዚአብሔር ደስታ ብርታታችሁ ስለሆነ አትዘኑ” አላቸው።
11ሌዋውያኑም፣ “ይህች ቀን የተቀደሰች ስለሆነች ዝም በሉ፤ አትዘኑም” በማለት ሕዝቡን ሁሉ አረጋጉ።
12ስለዚህ ሕዝቡ ሁሉ የተነገራቸውን ቃል ተረድተው ስለ ነበረ፣ ለመብላት፣ ለመጠጣት፣ ከምግባቸው ከፍለው ለመላክና ሐሤትም ለማድረግ ሄዱ።
13ከወሩም በሁለተኛው ቀን የየቤተ ሰቡ ሁሉ ኀላፊዎች፣ የሕጉን ቃል ለመማር ከካህናቱና ከሌዋውያኑ ጋር በጸሓፊው በዕዝራ ዙሪያ ተሰበሰቡ። 14እስራኤላውያን በሰባተኛው ወር በሚውለው በዓል በዳስ ውስጥ እንዲቀመጡ እግዚአብሔር በሙሴ አማካይነት የሰጠውን ትእዛዝ በሕጉ ውስጥ ተጽፎ አገኙ፤ 15ስለዚህ በየከተሞቻቸውና በኢየሩሳሌም ይህን ቃል እንዲያውጁና እንዲያሠራጩ እንዲህ በማለት አዘዟቸው፤ “ወደ ኰረብቶች ውጡ፤ ከዘይትና ከበረሓ ወይራ፣ ከባርስነት፣ ከዘንባባና ከለምለም ዛፎች ቅርንጫፎችን አምጡ8፥15 ዘሌ 23፥37-40 ይመ፤ በተጻፈው መሠረት ዳሶችን ሥሩ።” 16ስለዚህ ሕዝቡ ወጥተው ቅርንጫፎች አመጡ፤ እያንዳንዳቸውም በየቤታቸው ጣራ ሰገነት፣ በየግቢያቸው፣ በእግዚአብሔር ቤት አደባባይ፣ “በውሃ በር” አደባባይና “በኤፍሬም በር” አደባባይ ላይ ዳስ ሠሩ። 17ከምርኮ የተመለሰውም ማኅበር ሁሉ ዳሱን ሠርቶ ተቀመጠ። ከነዌ ልጅ ከኢያሱ ዘመን ጀምሮ እስከዚያን ጊዜ ድረስ እስራኤላውያን እንደዚያ አድርገው በዓሉን አክብረው አያውቁም፤ ደስታቸውም ታላቅ ነበር።
18ከመጀመሪያው ቀን ጀምሮ እስከ መጨረሻው ድረስ፣ ዕዝራ በየዕለቱ ከእግዚአብሔር ሕግ መጽሐፍ ያነብብ ነበር። እነርሱም በዓሉን ሰባት ቀን አከበሩ፤ በስምንተኛውም ቀን በሕጉ መሠረት የተቀደሰ ጉባኤ ተደረገ።
1And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel. 2And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.8.2 that…: Heb. that understood in hearing 3And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.8.3 from…: Heb. from the light 4And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.8.4 pulpit…: Heb. tower of wood 5And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:8.5 sight: Heb. eyes 6And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground. 7Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. 8So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.
9¶ And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.8.9 the Tirshatha: or, the governor 10Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. 11So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved. 12And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.
13¶ And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law.8.13 to understand…: or, that they might instruct in the words of the law 14And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:8.14 by: Heb. by the hand of 15And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.
16¶ So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. 17And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness. 18Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.8.18 a solemn…: Heb. a restraint
