So all of Israel brought back the Ark of the Lord's Agreement with a lot of shouting, accompanied by horns, trumpets, and cymbals, and music played on harps and lyres.
So from the first day of the seventh month, the Israelites began to present burnt offerings to the Lord, even though the foundation of the Lord's Temple had not been laid.
The priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, and Temple servants, as well as some of the people and the rest of the Israelites, went back to live in their specific towns. By the seventh month the Israelites were living in their towns,
On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly—men and women, and all those children who could listen and understand.
You are also to observe the Festival of Harvest when you present the firstfruits of the produce from what you've sown in the fields. Lastly you are to observe the Festival of Gathering-In the Harvest at the end of the year, when you gather in the harvest of the rest of your crops from the field.
At that time a loud trumpet will sound, and those who were dying in Assyria will return along with those exiled in Egypt. They will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Then the Lord will appear over his people and his arrow will flash like lightning! The Lord God will blow the trumpet and march out like a windstorm from the south.
During the time you celebrate the Festival of Weeks, hold a holy meeting on the day of firstfruits when you present an offering of new grain to the Lord. Don't do any of your normal work.
Hold a holy meeting on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Don't do any of your normal work. You are to celebrate a festival dedicated to the Lord for seven days.
Present a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all of them without defects, as a sacrifice acceptable to the Lord,