This Day Is Holy

Nehemiah 8

⁹ And Nehemiah, who was _e the governor, and Ezra _f the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, _g "This day is holy to the Lord your God; _h do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. ¹⁰ Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and _i send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." ¹¹ So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." ¹² And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because _j they had understood the words that were declared to them.

1. Cross References
   Nehemiah 7:65
   The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food until a priest with Urim and Thummim should arise.
   Nehemiah 7:70
   Now some of the heads of fathers' houses gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 basins, 30 priests' garments and 500 minas of silver.
   Nehemiah 10:1
   On the seals are the names of Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, Zedekiah.
   Ezra 2:63
   The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food, until there should be a priest to consult Urim and Thummim.
   
2. Cross References
   Nehemiah 12:26
   These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra, the priest and scribe.
   
3. Cross References
   Nehemiah 8:2
   So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month.
   Leviticus 23:24
   Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.
   Numbers 29:1
   On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets.
   
4. Cross References
   Ecclesiastes 3:4
   A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
   
5. Cross References
   Esther 9:19
   Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.
   Esther 9:22
   As the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
   
6. Cross References
   Nehemiah 8:7 - 8
   Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places.
   

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.