Nechemyah 8 נחמיה ח׳

And all the people gathered as one man to the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the scroll of the Torah of Moses which the L-rd had commanded to Israel.

And Ezra the priest brought the Torah before the congregation, from man to woman and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month [i.e., Rosh Hashanah].

And he read in it before the square in front of the Water Gate from daylight until midday before the men, the women, and (the others) who understood. And the ears of all the people were to the Torah scroll.

And Ezra stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the thing [(the reading of the Torah scroll)]. And there stood next to him: Matithyah, Shema, Anayah, Uriah, Chilkiyah, and Ma'aseyah, on his right; and, on his left, Pedayah, Mishael, Malkiyah, Chusham, Chashbadnah, Zecharyah, and Meshulam.

And Ezra opened the scroll in the sight of all of the people (for he was [standing] above all of the people). And when he opened it, all of the people stood silent.

And Ezra blessed the L-rd, the great G d, and all the people answered Amen! Amen! with hands uplifted [in praise of the L-rd]. And they bowed down and prostrated themselves to the L-rd with their faces to the ground.

And Yeshua, Bani, Sherevyah, Yamin, Akuv, Shabthai, Hodiyah, Ma'aseyah, Kelita, Azaryah, Yozavad, Chanan, Pelayah, and the Levites explained the Torah to the people, the people standing.

And they read in the explicated scroll of the Torah of G-d with application, and they understood what was written.

And Nechemiah (Tirshatha) and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites, the edifiers of the people, said to all the people: This day is holy to the L-rd your G d; do not mourn and do not weep. For all the people wept [(for their remissness in fulfilling the Torah)] when they heard the words of the Torah.

And he said to them: Go, eat fat things and drink sweet things and send portions to him [i.e., to the poor one] who has no [food] readied. For this day is holy to our L-rd. And do not be sad, for the L-rd's joy is your stronghold.

And the Levites hushed all the people, saying: Be still, for this is a holy day; do not be sad.

And all the people went to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great festivity, for they understood the things whereof they apprised them.

And on the second day [(of Rosh Hashanah)] there gathered the heads of the fathers' [houses] of all the people (and) the priests and the Levites to Ezra the scribe to probe the words of the Torah.

And they found it written in the Torah that the L-rd had commanded through Moses that the children of Israel were to dwell in succoth on the festival in the seventh month.

[And they commanded] that they make heard and proclaim throughout all of their cities and in Jerusalem: "Go out to the mountain and bring olive leaves and olive-tree leaves and myrtle leaves [(for roofing the succah)] and date-palm leaves [(for the lulav)] and leaves of a plaited tree [(hadassim)] to observe Succoth as written."

And the people went out and brought [(what they had been instructed to bring)], and they made succoth for themselves, each on his roof and in their courtyards and in the courts of the house of G-d and in the square of the Water Gate and in the square of the Gate of Ephraim.

And all the congregation that had returned from the captivity made succoth, and they dwelt in the succoth. For the children of Israel had not done so from the days of Yeshua the son of Nun until that day. And the joy was very great.

And he read in the scroll of the Torah of G-d every day [of the festival], from the first day until the last day. And they observed the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day, atzereth, as prescribed [viz. Leviticus 23:26].