¹ And this is the with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death.

² And he said, the LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir to them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.

³ Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.

⁴ Moses commanded us a law; even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

⁵ And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were assembled.

⁶ Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.

⁷ And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him to his people: let his hands be sufficient for him, and be thou a help to him from his enemies.

⁸ And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;

⁹ Who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.

¹⁰ They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law; they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thy altar.

¹¹ Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.

¹² And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.

¹³ And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,

¹⁴ And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,

¹⁵ And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,

¹⁶ And for the precious things of the earth and fullness of it, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush; let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.

¹⁷ His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

¹⁸ And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and Issachar, in thy tents.

¹⁹ They shall call the people to the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.

²⁰ And of Gad he said: Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.

²¹ And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated: and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.

²² And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.

²³ And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of the LORD: possess thou the west and the south.

²⁴ And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.

²⁵ Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.

²⁶ There is none like to the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellence on the sky.

²⁷ The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them.

²⁸ Israel then shall dwell in safety alone; the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine, also his heavens shall drop down dew.

²⁹ Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like to thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellence! and thy enemies shall be found liars to thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

¹ And all the people assembled as one man in the street that was before the water-gate; and they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.

² 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.

³ And he read therein before the street that was before the water-gate from the morning until mid-day, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

⁴ And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

⁵ And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:

⁶ And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

⁷ Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.

⁸ So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

⁹ And Nehemiah, who is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.

¹⁰ Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy to our Lord: neither be ye sad; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

¹¹ So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved.

¹² And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

¹³ And on the second day were assembled the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even 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 to 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 had returned from the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to 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 to 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 to the manner.