Ezra 3
1 And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
And now the seventh month had arrived, and the sons of Israel were in their cities. Then, the people were gathered together, like one man, in Jerusalem.
2 Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded 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.
And Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, rose up with his brothers, the priests. And Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, rose up with his brothers. And they built the altar of the God of Israel, so that they might offer holocausts upon it, just as it was 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 people of the countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
Now they set the altar of God upon its bases, while keeping the people of all the surrounding lands away from it. And they offered upon it a holocaust to the Lord, 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;
And they kept the solemnity of tabernacles, just as it was written, and the holocaust of each day in order, according to the precept, the work of each day in its time.
5 and afterward the continual burnt offering, and [the offerings] of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the LORD.
And after these, they offered the continual holocaust, as much on the new moons as on all the solemnities of the Lord that were consecrated, and on all those when a voluntary gift was offered to the Lord.
6 From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD: but the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.
From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer holocausts to the Lord. But the temple of God had not yet been founded.
7 They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, unto Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.
And so they gave money to those who cut and laid stones. Similarly, they gave food, and drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians, so that they would bring cedar wood, from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, in accord with what had been commanded of them by Cyrus, the king of the Persians.
8 Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of the LORD.
Then, in the second year of their advent to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and the remainder of their brothers, the priests, and the Levites, and all who had arrived from the captivity to Jerusalem, began, and they appointed Levites, from twenty years and over, to hasten the work of the Lord.
9 Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to have the oversight of the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites.
And Jeshua and his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, and the sons of Judah, like one man, stood so that they might have charge over those who did the work in the temple of God: the sons of Henadad, and their sons, and their brothers, the Levites.
10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the order of David king of Israel.
And when the builders had founded the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their adornment with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, stood with cymbals, so that they might praise God by the hand of David, the king of Israel.
11 And they sang one to another in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD, [saying], For he is good, for his mercy [endureth] for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.
And they sung together with hymns and confession to the Lord: “For he is good. For his mercy is over Israel unto eternity.” And likewise, all the people shouted with a great clamor in praise to the Lord, because the temple of the Lord had been founded.
12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ [houses], the old men that 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:
And many of the priests and the Levites, and the leaders of the fathers and of the elders, who had seen the former temple, when now this temple was founded and was before their eyes, wept with a great voice. And many of them, shouting for joy, lifted up their voice.
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.
Neither could anyone distinguish between the voice of clamor of joy, and a voice of weeping of the people. For the shouting of the people mixed into a great clamor, and the voice was heard from far away.
