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

And some of the heads of the fathers' houses gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury one thousand gold drachmas, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priestly garments.

Now those who placed [their] seal on [the document were:] Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah,

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

This [is] a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra the priest, the scribe, expert in the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of His statutes to Israel:

Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law; and the people [stood] in their place.

So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped [them] to understand the reading.

"For a long time Israel [has been] without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law;

And Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the LORD; and they ate throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers.

Then he said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD: "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. [It shall] no longer [be] a burden on [your] shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who [could] hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.

"Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month, on the first [day] of the month, you shall have a sabbath-[rest,] 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 customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets.

'Their grain offering [shall be] fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths [of an ephah] for the bull, two-tenths for the ram,

'also one kid of the goats [as] a sin offering, to make atonement for you;

"And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, 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, your male and female servants, and the Levite who [is] within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

"You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who [is] within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who [are] among you, at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide.

"And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who [are] within your gates.

"Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

'I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed [any] of it for an unclean [use,] nor given [any] of it for the dead. I have obeyed 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 console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."

And this is the second thing you do: You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, With weeping and crying; So He does not regard the offering anymore, Nor receive [it] with goodwill from your hands.

Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes.

"because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard [you,"] says the LORD.

Thus it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes.

"Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great [is] the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on 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 no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law [is] the knowledge of sin.

I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.

For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, [what] clearing [of yourselves, what] indignation, [what] fear, [what] vehement desire, [what] zeal, [what] vindication! In all [things] you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.