Worship: The Word of God Read in Public Assemblies
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Exodus 24:7
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
Deuteronomy 27:12–26
“When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. / And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to deliver the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. / Then the Levites shall proclaim in a loud voice to every Israelite:
Deuteronomy 31:11–13
when all Israel comes before the LORD your God at the place He will choose, you are to read this law in the hearing of all Israel. / Assemble the people—men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law. / Then their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Joshua 8:33–35
All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel. / Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. / There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.
2 Kings 23:1–3
Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. / And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people small and great—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. / So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.
Nehemiah 8:1–8, 13–18
At that time all the people gathered together in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. / On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could listen and understand. / So Ezra read it aloud from daybreak until noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate, in front of the men and women and those who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
Matthew 21:23
When Jesus returned to the temple courts and began to teach, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to Him. “By what authority are You doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave You this authority?”
Luke 4:16, 17
Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read, / the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written:
1 Timothy 4:13
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching.