It was the ninth month - Or, our December, a time when rain fails heavily in Palestine: four months, therefore, after Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem (compare Ezra 7:9).
The street - Rather, “the court,” the “broad,” “spacious, place” (compare the 2 Chronicles 29:4 note).
9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.