3
1 When
the seventh month
had come, and
the children of
Israel were in
the cities, the
people gathered themselves
together as one
man to Jerusalem.
2 Then
Jeshua the son
of Jozadak stood
up with his
brothers the
priests and
Zerubbabel the son
of Shealtiel and
his relatives, and
built the altar
of the God of
Israel, to offer
burnt offerings on
it, as it
is written in
the law of
Moses the man
of God.
3 In
spite of their fear
because of the
peoples of
the surrounding lands, they
set the altar
on its base;
and they offered
burnt offerings on
it to the
LORD, even burnt
offerings morning
and evening.
4 They
kept the feast
of booths, as
it is written,
and offered the
daily burnt
offerings by
number, according
to the ordinance,
as the duty
of every day
required;
5 and afterward
the continual
burnt offering,
the offerings of
the new moons,
of all the
set feasts of
the LORD that
were consecrated,
and of everyone
who willingly
offered a free
will offering to
the LORD.
6 From
the first day
of the seventh
month, they began
to offer burnt
offerings to the
LORD; but the
foundation of the
LORD’s temple was
not yet laid.
7 They
also gave money
to the masons
and to the
carpenters. They
also gave food,
drink, and oil
to the people
of Sidon and Tyre
to bring cedar
trees from Lebanon
to the sea,
to Joppa,
according to the
grant that they
had from Cyrus
King of Persia.
8 Now
in the second
year of
their coming to
God’s house at
Jerusalem, in the
second month,
Zerubbabel the son
of Shealtiel,
Jeshua the son
of Jozadak, and
the rest of
their brothers the
priests and the
Levites, and all
those who had come
out of the
captivity to
Jerusalem, began
the work and
appointed the
Levites, from
twenty years old
and upward, to
have the oversight
of the work
of the LORD’s
house.
9 Then
Jeshua stood with
his sons and
his brothers,
Kadmiel and his
sons, the sons
of Judah, together
to have
the oversight of
the workmen
in God’s house:
the sons of
Henadad, with
their sons and
their brothers the
Levites.
10 When
the builders laid
the foundation of
the LORD’s temple,
they set the
priests in
their vestments with
trumpets, with the
Levites the sons
of Asaph with
cymbals, to praise
the LORD,
according to the
directions of
David king of
Israel.
11 They
sang to one another
in praising and
giving thanks to
the LORD, “For
he is good,
for his loving
kindness endures
forever toward
Israel.” All the
people shouted
with a great
shout, when they
praised the LORD,
because the
foundation of the
LORD’s house had
been laid.
12 But
many of the
priests and
Levites and heads
of fathers’ households,
the old men
who had seen
the first house,
when the
foundation of this
house was laid
before their eyes,
wept with a
loud voice. Many
also shouted aloud
for joy,
13 so
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
noise was heard
far away.