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።
1all of them gathered together. They went to the open area in front of the Water Gate. They told Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses. The Lord had given Israel that Law so they would obey him. Ezra was the teacher of the Law.
2Ezra the priest brought the Law out to the whole community. It was the first day of the seventh month. The group was made up of men, women, and children old enough to understand what Ezra was going to read. 3He read the Law to them from sunrise until noon. He did it as he faced the open area in front of the Water Gate. He read it to the men, the women, and the children old enough to understand. And all the people paid careful attention as Ezra was reading the Book of the Law.
4Ezra, the teacher of the Law, stood on a high wooden stage. It had been built for the occasion. Mattithiah, Shema and Anaiah stood at his right side. So did Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah. Pedaiah, Mishael and Malkijah stood at his left side. So did Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.
5Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him. That’s because he was standing above them. As he opened the book, the people stood up. 6Ezra praised the Lord. He is the great God. All the people lifted up their hands and said, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down. They turned their faces toward the ground and worshiped the Lord.
7The Levites taught the Law to the people. They remained standing while the Levites taught them. The Levites who were there included Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai and Hodiah. They also included Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah. 8All these Levites read to the people parts of the Book of the Law of God. They made it clear to them. They told them what it meant. So the people understood what was being read.
9Nehemiah was the governor. Ezra was a priest and the teacher of the Law. They spoke up. So did the Levites who were teaching the people. All these men said to the people, “This day is set apart to honor the Lord your God. So don’t weep. Don’t be sad.” All the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
10Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy some good food and sweet drinks. Send some of it to people who don’t have any. This day is holy to our Lord. So don’t be sad. The joy of the Lord makes you strong.”
11The Levites calmed all the people down. They said, “Be quiet. This is a holy day. So don’t be sad.”
12Then all the people went away to eat and drink. They shared their food with others. They celebrated with great joy. Now they understood the words they had heard. That’s because everything had been explained to them.
13All the family leaders gathered around Ezra, the teacher. So did the priests and Levites. All of them paid attention to the words of the Law. It was the second day of the month. 14The Lord had given the Law through Moses. He wanted the Israelites to obey it. It is written there that they were supposed to live in booths during the Feast of Booths. That feast was celebrated in the seventh month. 15They were also supposed to spread the message all through their towns and in Jerusalem. They were supposed to announce, “Go out into the central hill country. Bring back some branches from olive and wild olive trees. Also bring some from myrtle, palm and shade trees. Use the branches to make booths.”
16So the people went out and brought back some branches. They built themselves booths on their own roofs. They made them in their courtyards. They put them up in the courtyards of the house of God. They built them in the open area in front of the Water Gate. And they built them in the open area in front of the Gate of Ephraim. 17All the people who had returned from the land of Babylon made booths. They lived in them during the Feast of Booths. They hadn’t celebrated the feast with so much joy for a long time. In fact, they had never celebrated it like that from the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, until that day. So their joy was very great.
18Day after day, Ezra read parts of the Book of the Law of God to them. He read it out loud from the first day to the last. They celebrated the Feast of Booths for seven days. On the eighth day they gathered together. They followed the required rules for celebrating the feast.
