Ezra 3:6-8

Common English Bible

⁶ From the first day of the seventh month, they began to present entirely burned offerings to the Lord.

However, the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid. ⁷ So they gave money to the masons and carpenters; and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedarwood by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, according to the authorization given them by Persia’s King Cyrus.

Laying the foundations of God’s house

⁸ In the second month of the second year after their arrival at God’s house in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and Jeshua, Jozadak’s son, and the rest of their kin—the priests and the Levites and all who had come from the captivity to Jerusalem—made a beginning. They appointed Levites 20 years old and above to oversee the work on the Lord’s house.