Ezra 3

New King James Version

Worship Restored at Jerusalem

3 And when the ^(A)seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. ² Then ^[a]Jeshua the son of ^(B)Jozadak^[b] and his brethren the priests, ^(C)and Zerubbabel the son of ^(D)Shealtiel and his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is ^(E)written in the Law of Moses the man of God. ³ Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its ^[c]bases; and they offered ^(F)burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings. ^4 (G)They also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, ^(H)as it is written, and ^(I)offered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day. ⁵ Afterwards they offered the ^(J)regular burnt offering, and those for New Moons and for all the appointed feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and those of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to the Lord. ⁶ From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid. ⁷ They also gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and ^(K)food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea, to ^(L)Joppa, ^(M)according to the permission which they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Restoration of the Temple Begins

⁸ Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, ^(N)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of ^[d]Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work ^(O)and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. ⁹ Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, and the sons of ^[e]Judah, arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

¹⁰ When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, ^(P)the^[f] priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ^(Q)ordinance^[g] of David king of Israel. ^11 (R)And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord:

Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

¹² But many of the priests and Levites and ^(U)heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet 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 sound was heard afar off.