Fire Consumes Nehemiah’s Sacrifice

¹⁸ Since on the twenty-fifth day of Chislev we shall celebrate the purification of the temple, we thought it necessary to notify you, in order that you also may celebrate the Festival of Booths^[a] and the fire given when Nehemiah, who built the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.^(A)

¹⁹ Women girded with sackcloth under their breasts thronged the streets. Some of the young women who were kept indoors ran together to the gates, and some to the walls, while others peered out of the windows.^(A)