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, ^(A)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of ^[a]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 ^(B)and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord.

³ But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, ^(A)“You may do nothing with us to build a ^[a]house for our God; but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as ^(B)King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

⁴ Of these, twenty-four thousand were to ^(A)look after the work of the house of the Lord, six thousand were ^(B)officers and judges,

²⁴ These were the sons of ^(A)Levi by their fathers’ houses—the heads of the fathers’ houses as they were counted individually by the number of their names, who did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of ^(B)twenty years and above.

²⁵ For David said, “The Lord God of Israel ^(C)has given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever”; ²⁶ and also to the Levites, “They shall no longer ^(D)carry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.” ²⁷ For by the ^(E)last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above; ²⁸ because their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts and in the chambers, in the purifying of all holy things and the work of the service of the house of God, ²⁹ both with ^(F)the showbread and ^(G)the fine flour for the grain offering, with ^(H)the unleavened cakes and ^(I)what is baked in the pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of ^(J)measures and sizes; ³⁰ to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening; ³¹ and at every presentation of a burnt offering to the Lord ^(K)on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the ^(L)set^[a] feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the Lord; ³² and that they should ^(M)attend to the ^(N)needs of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holy place, and the ^(O)needs of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of the Lord.

^3 (A)from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.