^6:13Then Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues acted accordingly—with precision, just as Darius the king had given instructions.²²^6:14The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time²³ Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo continued prophesying. They built and brought it to completion by the command of the God of Israel and by the command of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia. ^6:15They finished this temple on the third day of the month Adar, which is the sixth²⁴ year of the reign of King Darius.

^6:16The people²⁵ of Israel—the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles²⁶—observed the dedication of this temple of God with joy. ^6:17For the dedication of this temple of God they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. ^6:18They appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their divisions over the worship of God at Jerusalem,²⁷ in accord with²⁸ the book of Moses. ^6:19²⁹ The exiles³⁰ observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. ^6:20The priests and the Levites had purified themselves, every last one,³¹ and they all were ceremonially pure. They sacrificed the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their colleagues³² the priests, and for themselves. ^6:21The Israelites who were returning from the exile ate it, along with all those who had joined them³³ in separating themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel. ^6:22They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had given them joy and had changed the opinion³⁴ of the king of Assyria³⁵ toward them, so that he assisted³⁶ them in the work on the temple of God, the God of Israel.

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Footnotes

22 Aram “sent.”
23 Aram “in” or “by,” in the sense of accompaniment.
24 The sixth year of the reign of Darius would be 516 B.C.
25 Aram “sons of.”
26 Aram “sons of the exile.”
27 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
28 Aram “according to the writing of.”
29 At this point the language of the book reverts from Aramaic (4:8–6:18) back to Hebrew. Aramaic will again be used in Ezra 7:12–26.
30 Heb “the sons of the exile.” So also in v. 20.
31 Heb “as one.” The expression is best understood as referring to the unity shown by the religious leaders in preparing themselves for the observance of Passover. On the meaning of the Hebrew phrase see 1:182 אֶחָד 3b. See also אֶחָד 5.
32 Heb “brothers.”
33 Heb “who had separated from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to them.”
34 Heb “heart.”
35 The expression “king of Assyria” is anachronistic, since Assyria fell in 612 b.c., long before the events of this chapter. Perhaps the expression is intended subtly to contrast earlier kings of Assyria who were hostile toward Israel with this Persian king who showed them favor.
36 Heb “to strengthen their hands.”