Ezra 3

Rebuilding the Altar

1 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.2 Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices.4 Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day.5 After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred feasts of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord.

6 On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid.

Rebuilding the Temple

7 Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.
8 In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work, appointing Levites twenty years of age and older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord.

9 Jeshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers—all Levites—joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel.

11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
“He is good;
his love to Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.12 But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.

13 No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

EZRA 3

The First Offering //on the New Altar

1 During the seventh montht of the year, the Israelites who had settled in their towns went to Jerusalem. 2 t The priest Joshua son of Jozadak, together with the other priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his relatives rebuilt the altar of Israel's God. Then they were able to offer sacrifices there by following the instructions God had given to Moses, the man of God.

3 t And they built the altar where it had stood before, t even though they were afraid of the people who were already living around there. Then every morning and evening they burned sacrifices and offerings to the [Lord].
4  t The people followed the rules for celebrating the Festival of Shelters and offered the proper sacrifices each day.

5 t They offered sacrifices to please the [Lord], t sacrifices at each New Moon Festival, and sacrifices at the rest of the [Lord]'s festivals. Every offering the people had brought voluntarily was also presented to the [Lord].

6 Although work on the temple itself had not yet begun, the people started offering sacrifices on the [Lord]'s altar on the first day of the seventh month of that year.

The Rebuilding //of the Temple Begins

7 King Cyrus of Persia had said the Israelites could have cedar trees brought from Lebanon to Joppa by sea. So they sent grain, wine, and olive oil to the cities of Tyre and Sidon as payment for these trees, and they gave money to the stoneworkers and carpenters.
8 During the second montht of the second year after the people had returned from Babylonia, they started rebuilding the [Lord]'s temple. Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the priests, the Levites, and everyone else who had returned started working. Every Levite over 20 years of age was put in charge of some part of the work.

9 The Levites in charge of the whole project were Joshua and his sons and relatives and Kadmiel and his sons from the family of Hodaviah.t The family of Henadad worked along with them.
10  t When the builders had finished laying the foundation of the temple, the priests put on their robes and blew trumpets in honor of the [Lord], while the Levites from the family of Asaph praised God with cymbals. All of them followed the instructions given years before by King David.t

11 t They praised the [Lord] and gave thanks as they took turns singing:
“The [Lord] is good!
His faithful love for Israel
will last forever.”
Everyone started shouting and praising the [Lord] because work on the foundation of the temple had begun. 12 t Many of the older priests and Levites and the heads of families wept bitterly because they remembered seeing the first temple years before. But others were so happy that they celebrated with joyful shouts. 13 Their shouting and crying were so noisy that it all sounded alike and could be heard a long way off.