Restoring Right Relations with God: This chapter follows in the wake of 7:73b–8:12 and 8:13–18. The people “assembled” (REB) once more for a third public reading of the Torah and a communal response. This time their response is one of repentant confession. As soon as the festivals of joy ended (8:12, 17), it was appropriate to act on the instinct to respond to the Torah with lament in 8:9. Set in the new literary jigsaw that chapters 8–10 constitute in their present setting, Nehemiah 9 seems to be of composite origin. Verses 1–5 fit best after Ezra 10:9–15, which is dated on the twentieth day of the ninth month, while the appended prayer of verses 6–37 was probably an independent one used in contemporary worship. In the new editorial context, the twenty-fourth day of verse 1 slots neatly a…