Ezra 3
1 When the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in their cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
By the time of the seventh month, the Israelites had settled in their towns, and the people gathered together as one in Jerusalem.
2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
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.
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 YHWH, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
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.
4 They kept the feast of tents, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;
They observed the Festival of Shelters as the Law required, sacrificing the specified number of burnt offerings each day.
5 and afterward the continual burnt offering, the offerings of the new moons, of all the set feasts of YHWH that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to YHWH.
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.
6 From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to YHWH; but the foundation of YHWH's temple was not yet laid.
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.
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 Koresh King of Persia.
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.
8 Now in the second year of their coming to God's house 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 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 YHWH's house.
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.
9 Then Jeshua stood with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Hodaviah, together, to have the oversight of the workmen in God's house: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites.
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.
10 When the builders laid the foundation of YHWH's temple, they set the priests in their clothing with trumpets, with the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise YHWH, according to the directions of David king of Israel.
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.
11 They sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to YHWH, "For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel." All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised YHWH, because the foundation of the house of YHWH had been laid.
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.
12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of ancestral houses, 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,
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.
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.
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.
