Ezra 3
1 By the time of the seventh month, the Israelites had settled in their towns, and the people gathered together as one in Jerusalem.
It was the seventh month after the people of Israel came back to their cities, when they gathered together as one man in Jerusalem.
2 Then Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and the priests with him, together with Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and his relatives, started to build the altar of the God of Israel in order to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as instructed by the Law of Moses, the man of God.
Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and his brothers rose up and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
3 Even though they were afraid of the local people, they set up the altar on its original foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both morning and evening burnt offerings.
Then they established the altar on its stand, for dread was on them because of the people of the land. They offered burnt offerings to Yahweh at dawn and evening.
4 They observed the Festival of Shelters as the Law required, sacrificing the specified number of burnt offerings each day.
They also observed the Festival of Shelters as it is written and offered burnt offerings day by day according to the decree, each day's duty on its day.
5 After that also presented the daily burnt offerings and the new moon offerings, as well as those for all the yearly festivals of the lord and for those who brought voluntary offerings to the Lord.
Accordingly, there were daily burnt offerings and monthly ones and offerings for all the fixed feasts of Yahweh, along with all the freewill offerings.
6 So from the first day of the seventh month, the Israelites began to present burnt offerings to the Lord, even though the foundation of the Lord's Temple had not been laid.
They began to offer up burnt offerings to Yahweh on the first day of the seventh month, although the temple had not been founded.
7 They paid masons and carpenters, and provided food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre for them to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to Joppa by sea, as King Cyrus of Persia had authorized.
So they gave silver to the stoneworkers and craftsmen, and they gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so they would bring cedar trees by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized for them by Cyrus, king of Persia.
8 In the second month of the second year after arriving at God's Temple in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and those with them—the priests, the Levites, and everyone who had come back to Jerusalem from captivity—began the work. They put Levites twenty years and older to in charge of building the Lord's Temple.
Then in the second month of the second year after they came to the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, the rest of the priests, the Levites, and those who came from captivity back to Jerusalem began the work. They assigned the Levites twenty years old and older to oversee the work of Yahweh's house.
9 Jeshua and his sons and relatives, Kadmiel and his sons, the descendants of Yehudah, the sons of Henadad and their sons and relatives, all of them Levites, supervised those working on God's Temple.
Jeshua and his sons and brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, who were descendants of Hodaviah), and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers-all of them were Levites-joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the Lord's Temple, the priests dressed in their special clothes and carrying trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) carrying cymbals, all took their places to praise the Lord, following the instructions given by King David of Israel.
The builders laid a foundation for Yahweh's temple. This enabled the priests to stand in their garments with trumpets, and the Levites, sons of Asaph, to praise Yahweh with cymbals, just as the hand of David, king of Israel had commanded.
11 They sang with praise and thanks to the Lord: “God is good; for his trustworthy love for Israel lasts forever.” Then everyone there gave a tremendous shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the Lord's Temple had been laid.
They sang with praise and thankfulness to Yahweh, “He is good! His covenant faithfulness to Israel endures forever.” All the people cried out with a great shout of joy in praise of Yahweh because the temple's foundations had been laid.
12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and family leaders who remembered the first Temple wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this Temple, though many others shouted for joy.
But many of the priests, Levites, and chief patriarchs, those who were old and had seen the first house, when this house's foundations were laid before their eyes, wept loudly. But many people had shouts of joy with gladness and an excited sound.
13 However, nobody could tell the shouts of joy from the cries of weeping, because everyone was making so much noise—so much so it could be heard a long way away.
As a result, people were not able to distinguish the joyful and glad sounds from the sound of people weeping, for the people were crying out with great joy, and the sound was heard from far away.
