Nehemiah 8:13-18

New King James Version

The Feast of Tabernacles^(A)

¹³ Now on the second day the heads of the fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to understand the words of the Law. ¹⁴ And they found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in ^(B)booths^[a] during the feast of the seventh month, ¹⁵ and ^(C)that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and ^(D)in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and ^(E)bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

¹⁶ Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the ^(F)roof of his house, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the ^(G)Water Gate ^(H)and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made ^[b]booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very ^(I)great gladness. ¹⁸ Also ^(J)day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast ^(K)seven days; and on the ^(L)eighth day there was a sacred assembly, according to the prescribed manner.