⁹ And now see that you keep the Festival of Booths^[a] in the month of Chislev, in the one hundred eighty-eighth year.^(A)

³⁹ “Now, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the festival of the Lord, lasting seven days, a complete rest on the first day and a complete rest on the eighth day.^{(A) 40} On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic^[a] trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.^{(B) 41} You shall keep it as a festival to the Lord lasting seven days in the year; you shall keep it in the seventh month as a statute forever throughout your generations. ⁴² You shall live in booths for seven days; all who are native-born in Israel shall live in booths,^{(C) 43} so that your generations may know that I made the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

¹⁴ And they found it written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the Israelites should live in booths^[a] during the festival of the seventh month^{(A) 15} and that they should publish and proclaim in all their towns and in Jerusalem as follows, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths,^[b] as it is written.”^{(B) 16} So the people went out and brought them and made booths^[c] for themselves, each on the roofs of their houses, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim.^{(C) 17} And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths^[d] and lived in them, for from the days of Jeshua son of Nun to that day the Israelites had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.^{(D) 18} And day by day, from the first day to the last day, Ezra^[e] read from the book of the law of God. They kept the festival seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.^(E)

⁵⁹ Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.^(A)

¹⁶ Since, therefore, we are about to celebrate the purification, we write to you. You will do well if you celebrate these days.^(A)

⁵ It happened that on the same day on which the sanctuary had been profaned by the foreigners, the purification of the sanctuary took place, that is, on the twenty-fifth day of the same month, which was Chislev.^(A)

⁸ They decreed by public edict, ratified by vote, that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year.