Enemies Hinder the Work

4 Now when ^(A)the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that ^(B)the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel,

¹⁶ And the sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the ^[a]exiles, ^(A)celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

The Passover Held

^19 (A)The exiles held the Passover on ^(B)the fourteenth of the first month.

^20 (A)For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were pure. Then ^(B)they slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the exiles, both for their brothers the priests and for themselves.

²⁵ Then Arioch hurriedly ^(A)brought Daniel ^[a]into the king’s presence and spoke to him as follows: “I have found a man among the ^[b](B)exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!”

¹³ Then they responded and spoke before the king, “^(A)Daniel, who is one of the ^[a]exiles from Judah, pays ^(B)no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps offering his prayer three times a day.”