Ezra 6:13–22

The Temple Is Completed and Set Apart to God

¹³The governor Tattenai carried out the order King Darius had sent. So did Shethar-Bozenai and their friends.

¹⁴The elders of the Jews continued to build the temple. They enjoyed great success because of the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Zechariah belonged to the family line of Iddo.

The people finished building the temple. That’s what the God of Israel had commanded them to do. Cyrus and Darius had given orders allowing them to do it. Later, Artaxerxes supplied many things that were needed in the temple. Those three men were kings of Persia.

¹⁵So the temple was completed on the third day of the month of Adar. It was in the sixth year that Darius was king.

¹⁶When the house of God was set apart, the people of Israel celebrated with joy. The priests and Levites joined them. So did the rest of those who had returned from Babylonia. ¹⁷When the house of God was set apart to him, the people sacrificed 100 bulls. They also sacrificed 200 rams and 400 male lambs. As a sin offering for the whole nation of Israel, the people sacrificed 12 male goats. One goat was sacrificed for each tribe in Israel.

¹⁸The priests were appointed to their companies. And the Levites were appointed to their groups. All of them served God at Jerusalem. They served him in keeping with what is written in the Scroll of Moses.

The People Celebrate the Passover Feast

¹⁹Those who had returned from Babylonia celebrated the Passover Feast. It was on the 14th day of the first month. ²⁰The priests and Levites had made themselves pure and clean. The Levites killed the Passover lamb for everyone who had returned from Babylonia. They also did it for themselves and their relatives, the priests.

²¹So the people of Israel who had returned ate the Passover lamb. They ate it together with all those who had separated themselves from the practices of their neighbors who weren’t Jews. Those practices were “unclean.” The people worshiped the Lord. He is the God of Israel.

²²For seven days they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread with joy. That’s because the Lord had filled them with joy. They were glad because he had changed the mind of the king of Persia. So the king had helped them with the work on the house of the God of Israel.