¹³Then Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates consequently did with diligence what Darius the king ordered. ¹⁴So the elders of the Jews were building and prospering, through the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building by the command of the God of Israel and by the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia. ¹⁵This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

¹⁶And the Israelites,^b the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles^c celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. ¹⁷And they offered during the dedication of this house of God one hundred young bulls, two hundred young rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering for Israel according to the number of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸Then they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their sections for the work of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

The Celebration of Passover

¹⁹On the fourteenth day of the first month the returned exiles observed the Passover feast. ²⁰For the priests and Levites together had consecrated themselves; all of them were clean. And they slaughtered the Passover sacrifice for all of the returned exiles, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. ²¹The Israelites^d who returned from the exile and all those who separated themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the earth to seek Yahweh the God of Israel, ate. ²²With joy they celebrated the festival of unleavened bread for seven days, because Yahweh had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them in order to help them with the work of their hands on the house of the God of Israel.

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Footnotes

bLiterally “sons/children of Israel”
cLiterally “sons of the exile”
dLiterally “sons/children of Israel”