Each of you must respect his mother and his father, ¹  and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.

They must keep my charge so that they do not incur sin on account of it ¹  and therefore die ²  because they profane it. I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have ¹  on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.

And they observed the Passover ¹  on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the wilderness of Sinai; in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.

They may observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month ¹  at twilight; they are to eat it with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs.

They must not leave any of it until morning, nor break any of its bones; they must observe it in accordance with every statute of the Passover.

Moreover, at that same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to keep in the land which you are about to enter and possess. ¹ 

Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left!

You must obey him ¹  and keep his commandments and statutes that I am giving you today.”

‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

It is not in heaven, as though one must say, “Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”

And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, “Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”

For the thing is very near you – it is in your mouth and in your mind ¹  so that you can do it.

and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods. ¹  But he did not obey ²  the Lord’s command.

He issued this edict because ¹  a Passover like this had not been observed since the days of the judges; it was neglected for the entire period of the kings of Israel and Judah. ² 

At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival for seven days. This great assembly included people from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt in the south. ¹ 

Now Ezra had dedicated himself ¹  to the study of the law of the Lord, to its observance, and to teaching ²  its statutes and judgments in Israel.

I had them assemble ¹  at the canal ²  that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there for three days. I observed that the people and the priests were present, but I found no Levites there.

Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant ¹  with those who love him and obey ²  his commandments,

He rules ¹  by his power forever; he watches ²  the nations. Stubborn rebels should not exalt ³  themselves. (Selah)