1   When the seventh month came, the Israelites now being 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 kinsmen, set to work and built the altar of the God of Israel, in order to offer upon it whole-offerings as prescribed in the law of Moses the man of God. 3   They put the altar in place first, because they lived in fear of the foreign population; and they offered upon it whole-offerings to the Lord, both morning and evening offerings. 4   They kept the pilgrim-feast of Tabernacles ^note as ordained, and offered whole-offerings every day in the number prescribed for each day, 5   and, in addition to these, the regular whole-offerings and the offerings for sabbaths, ^note for new moons and for all the sacred seasons appointed by the Lord, and all voluntary offerings brought to the Lord. 6   The offering of whole-offerings began from the first day of the seventh month, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not yet been laid. 7   They gave money for the masons and carpenters, and food and drink and oil for the Sidonians and the Tyrians to fetch cedar-wood from the Lebanon to the roadstead at Joppa, by licence from Cyrus king of Persia.

8   In the second year after their return to the house of God in Jerusalem, and in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak started work, aided by all their fellow-Israelites, the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from captivity to Jerusalem. They appointed Levites from the age of twenty years and upwards to supervise the work of the house of the Lord. 9   Jeshua with his sons and his kinsmen, Kadmiel, Binnui, and Hodaviah, ^note together assumed control of those responsible for the work on the house of God. ^note

10   When the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their robes took their places with their trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with their cymbals, to praise the Lord in the manner prescribed by David king of Israel; 11   and they

Worship restored and the temple rebuilt chanted praises and thanksgiving to the Lord, singing, ‘It is good to give thanks to the Lord, ^note for his love towards Israel endures for ever.’ All the people raised a great shout of praise to the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord had been laid. 12   But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, who were old enough to have seen the former house, wept and wailed aloud when they saw the foundation of this house laid, while many others shouted for joy at the top of their voice. 13   The people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from that of the weeping and wailing, so great was the shout which the people were raising, and the sound could be heard a long way off.

Previous section

Next section