And some of the heads of the fathers’ houses contributed to the work. The governor gave to the treasury one thousand gold drachmas, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priestly garments.
And Ezra the priest brought the Torah before the assembly of both men and women and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
to appoint unto those who mourn in Tsiyon: to give them embellishment for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. And they shall be called trees of righteousness, a planting of יהוה, to be adorned.
“And there you shall eat before יהוה your Elohim, and shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which יהוה your Elohim has blessed you.
And this you have done a second time: you cover the altar of יהוה with tears, with weeping and crying, because He no longer regards the offering, nor receives it with pleasure from your hands.
“My people have perished for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being priest for Me. Since you have forgotten the Torah of your Elohim, I also forget your children.
because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before יהוה when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a ruin and a curse, and did tore your garments and wept before Me, I also have heard,” declares יהוה.
‘I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for any unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of יהוה my Elohim, I have done according to all that You have commanded me.
