< Ezra 3 >
1 And when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brothers, stood up 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 And they set the altar upon its base, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the countries. And they offered burnt offerings on it to Jehovah, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
4 And they kept the feast of tabernacles 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, and the offerings of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of Jehovah that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to Jehovah.
6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to Jehovah. But the foundation of the temple of Jehovah was not yet laid.
7 Also they gave money to the masons, and to the carpenters, and food, and drink, and oil, to those of Sidon, and to those of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.
8 Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who came out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began. And they appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of Jehovah.
9 Then Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, stood together to have the oversight of the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites.
10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Jehovah, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Jehovah, after the order of David king of Israel.
11 And they sang one to another in praising and giving thanks to Jehovah, saying, For he is good, for his loving kindness is forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Jehovah, because the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid.
12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers, 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, and many 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 afar off.
