1   Then King Darius issued an order, and search was made in the archives where the treasures were deposited in Babylon. 2   But it was in Ecbatana, in the royal residence in the province of Media, that a scroll was found, on which was written the following memorandum:

   3   In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued this decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered and fire-offerings brought. Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits, 4   with three courses of massive stones and one ^note course of timber, the cost to be defrayed from the royal treasury. 5   Also the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, shall be restored; they shall all be taken back to the temple in Jerusalem, and restored each to its place in the house of God.

6   Then King Darius issued this order: ^note

  Now, Tattenai, governor of the province of Beyond-Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues, the inspectors in the province of Beyond-Euphrates, 7   you are to keep away from the place, and to leave the governor of the Jews and their elders free to rebuild this house of God; let them rebuild it on its original site. 8   I also issue an order prescribing what you are to do for these elders of the Jews, so that the said house of God may be rebuilt. Their expenses are to be defrayed in full from the royal funds accruing from the taxes of the province of Beyond-Euphrates, so that the work may not be brought to a standstill. 9   And let them have daily without fail whatever they want, young bulls, rams, or lambs as whole-offerings for the God of heaven, or wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests in Jerusalem demand, so that they may offer soothing sacrifices to the God of heaven, 10   and pray for the life of the king and his sons. 11   Furthermore, I decree that, if any man tampers with this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house and he shall be fastened erect to it and flogged; and, in addition, his house shall be forfeit. ^note 12   And may the God who made that place a dwelling for his Name overthrow any king or people that

Worship restored and the temple rebuilt shall presume to tamper with this edict or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I Darius have issued a decree; it is to be carried out to the letter.

13   Then Tattenai, governor of the province of Beyond-Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues carried out to the letter the instructions which King Darius had sent them, 14   and the elders of the Jews went on with the rebuilding. As a result of the prophecies of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah grandson ^note of Iddo they had good success and finished the rebuilding as commanded by the God of Israel and according to the decrees of Cyrus and Darius; ^note 15   and the house was completed on the twenty-third ^note day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of King Darius.

16   Then the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites and all the other exiles who had returned, celebrated the dedication of the house of God with great rejoicing. 17   For its dedication they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, and as a sin-offering for all Israel twelve he-goats, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18   And they re-established the priests in their groups and the Levites in their divisions for the service of God in Jerusalem, as prescribed in the book of Moses.

19   On the fourteenth day of the first month the exiles who had returned kept the Passover. 20   The priests and the Levites, one and all, had purified themselves; all of them were ritually clean, and they killed the passover lamb for all the exiles who had returned, for their fellow-priests and for themselves. 21   It was eaten by the Israelites who had come back from exile and by all who had separated themselves from the peoples of the land and their uncleanness and sought the Lord the God of Israel. 22   And they kept the pilgrim-feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with rejoicing; for the Lord had given them cause for joy by changing the disposition of the king of Assyria towards them, so that he encouraged them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

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