¹¹ This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel: ¹² “Artaxerxes, ^(A)king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the ^(B)scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Peace.^{[a] (C)}And now

²¹ “And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence,

Ezra Reads the Law

8 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before ^(A)the Water Gate. And they told ^(B)Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. ² So Ezra the priest ^(C)brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, ^(D)on the first day of the seventh month. ^3 (E)And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

Feast of Booths Celebrated

¹³ On the second day the heads of fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law.

²⁶ These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the days of ^(A)Nehemiah the governor and of ^(B)Ezra, the priest and scribe.