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 booths in the feast of the seventh month:
[15] And
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.
[17] And 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.
[18] Also 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.
Neh.9
[1] Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting,
and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
[2] And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all
strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
[3] And they stood up
in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and
another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.
[4] Then stood up upon the
stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani,
and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.
[5] Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani,
Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the LORD your
God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
[6]
Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the
earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and
the host of heaven worshippeth thee.
[7] Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and
broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;
[8] And foundest
his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the
Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his
seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:
[9] And didst see the affliction of our fathers
in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;
[10] And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharoah,
and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against
them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.
[11] And thou didst divide the sea before them,
so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into
the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.
[12] Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy
pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go.
[13] Thou
camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments,
and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
[14] And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath,
and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
[15] And gavest
them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their
thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give
them.
[16] But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy
commandments,
[17] And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among
them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but
thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest
them not.
[18] Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee
up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
[19] Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest
them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the
way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.
[20] Thou
gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest
them water for their thirst.
[21] Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they
lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
[22] Moreover thou gavest them
kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the