Ezra 3:1-13
3 And the seventh month drew on, and the sons of Israel were in the cities; and the people to a man came together in Jerusalem,
2 and Jeshuaʽ the son of Josadak and his brothers the priests and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers stood up and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt-offerings on in accordance with what is written in the code of Moses the man of God;
3 ** and they set the altar in place on its site (for some of the peoples of the countries were at enmity with them) and offered burnt-offerings to Jehovah on it mornings and evenings,
4 * and kept the feast in accordance with what is written, with burnt-offerings in due number and with due observance for each day,
5 * and thereafter regular burnt-offering and sacrifices for sabbaths and new moons and all Jehovah’s consecrated dates, and for everybody that brought a volunteer offering to Jehovah.
6 From the first day of the seventh month they began offering burnt-offerings to Jehovah, but the foundation of Jehovah’s temple had not been laid.
7 * And they gave money to the quarrymen and stonecutters, and food and drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians to bring cedar timber from the Lebanon to the Joppa coast in accordance with King Cyrus of Persia’s authorization to them.
8 And in the year two of their coming to God’s house at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshuaʽ the son of Josadak and the rest of their brothers the priests and Levites, and all that had come out of their serfdom to Jerusalem, began and laid the foundation of God’s house on the new moon of the second month in the year two when they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and set the Levites, from twenty years old up, over the work on Jehovah’s house;
9 * and Jeshuaʽ, his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, the sons of Henadad, their sons and their brothers the Levites, stood like one man directing those who were doing the work on God’s house.
10 * And the builders laid the foundation of Jehovah’s temple, and the priests stood there in their vestments with the trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with the cymbals, to praise Jehovah as prescribed by King David of Israel,
11 * and responded in praise and thanksgiving to Jehovah “because he is good, because his friendship to Israel lasts forever”; and all the people raised a great cheer in praise to Jehovah over the laying of the foundation of Jehovah’s house.
12 * But to many of the older priests and Levites and heads of families, who had seen the first house, the house seemed miserable; and they were weeping loudly, and many were raising their voices high in cheering and gladness;
13 and the people could not tell the sound of the cheering for gladness from the sound of the people’s weeping, because the people were raising a great cheer and the sound was heard to a great distance.
Footnotes
^ 3:3 Var. and some of the other nations of the country came together against them as they set the altar in place on its site, because all the nations in the country were at enmity with them; but they rallied their courage and offered sacrifices appropriate to the occasion and burnt-offerings to Jehovah morning and evening
^ 3:3 Var. for there was a terror upon them from the peoples of the countries
^ 3:4 Lit. and burnt-offerings
^ 3:5 Var. burnt-offering and for new moons
^ 3:7 Lit. the Joppa sea
^ 3:9 Susp. (different copies have variations)
^ 3:10 Lit. stood in their
^ 3:11 Or and sang in praise
^ 3:12 Or of the priests and Levites and heads of families, the older ones who Codd. But many of the older priests and Levites and heads of families, who had seen the first house, wept loudly at the founding of it, this; and many
