Ezra 3

Worship Restored at Jerusalem

3And when the ^aseventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. ²Then ¹Jeshua the son of ^bJozadak ²and his brethren the priests, ^cand Zerubbabel the son of ^dShealtiel and his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is ^ewritten in the Law of Moses the man of God. ³Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its ³bases; and they offered ^fburnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings. ^4gThey also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, ^has it is written, and ⁱoffered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day. ⁵Afterwards they offered the ^jregular burnt offering, and those for New Moons and for all the appointed feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and those of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to the Lord. ⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid. ⁷They also gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and ^kfood, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea, to ^lJoppa, ^maccording to the permission which they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Restoration of the Temple Begins

⁸Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, ⁿZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of ⁴Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work ^oand appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. ⁹Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, and the sons of ⁵Judah, arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

¹⁰When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, ^pthe ⁶priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ^qordinance ⁷of David king of Israel. ^11rAnd they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord:

^s“For He is good,

^tFor His mercy endures forever toward Israel.”

Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

¹²But many of the priests and Levites and ^uheads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.