Nehemiah 8:16
So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.
The wall of Jerusalem had been rebuilt and the gates set up, while a large part of the city was still in ruins. The children of the covenant had assembled at Jerusalem from all the surrounding country and stood as a sea of heads before a platform of wood erected in one of the broadest streets amid the sad reminders of departed glory. There Ezra, now an aged man, stood with his fellow Levites at his right and left, blessed the Lord the great God, and all the people answered Amen and bowed with their faces to the ground to worship.
After hearing the law read, the people together with their rulers communally obeyed the written proclamation to fetch branches and make booths. That response was an act of repentance and returning to the Lord. In obedience, every one and each household built a booth upon the roof of his house and in their courts and courtyards. Booths were also set up in the courts of the house of God and in the streets and other public places, including in the street of the Water Gate and in the street of the Gate of Ephraim. The leafy booths recalled the time when the Hebrews lived in tents during their wilderness sojourn.
The people and rulers thus kept the Feast of Tabernacles once more from the fifteenth to the twenty-second day of the seventh month. The book of the law of God was read day by day from the first day unto the last day. The people made and occupied the booths and the returned congregation sat in them. The celebration was marked by great and very great gladness. Their action is an example of obedience to God's instruction, and living according to that instruction would have brought Israel health and prosperity.