And the governor said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till a priest could consult with Urim and Thummim.

And some of the heads of the fathers’ houses gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury a thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests’ garments.

Now those that sealed it were, Nehemiah, the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah,

And the governor said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till a priest could consult with Urim and with Thummim.

Now this is the copy of the letter that king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel.

Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

Now for a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the LORD: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers.

And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, who were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall no longer be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall you have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work: it is unto you a day of blowing the trumpets.

And their grain offering shall be of flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for a bullock, and two-tenths of an ephah for a ram,

And one kid of the goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you:

And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand unto, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he has no part nor inheritance with you.

And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite that is within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD your God has chosen to place his name there.

And you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within your gates.

Seven days shall you keep a solemn feast unto the LORD your God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD your God shall bless you in all your increase, and in all the works of your hands, therefore you shall surely rejoice.

I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I taken away any of it for any unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that you have commanded me.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

To provide for them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

And this have you done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, because he regards not the offering any more, or receives it with good will at your hand.

And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he tore his clothes.

Because your heart was tender, and you have humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you, says the LORD.

And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he tore his clothes.

Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book.

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

For I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance: for you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might suffer loss by us in nothing.

For behold this same thing, that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what earnestness it worked in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what full punishment! In all things you have proved yourselves to be pure in this matter.