Ezra 3:8-13

New English Translation

⁸ In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work,^[a] along with the rest of their associates,^[b] the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed^[c] the Levites who were at least twenty years old^[d] to take charge of the work on the Lord’s temple. ⁹ So Jeshua appointed both his sons and his relatives,^[e] Kadmiel and his sons (the sons of Yehudah^[f]), to take charge of the workers in the temple of God, along with the sons of Henadad, their sons, and their relatives^[g] the Levites. ¹⁰ When the builders established the Lord’s temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions,^[h] and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the Lord according to the instructions left by^[i] King David of Israel.^{[j] 11} With antiphonal response they sang,^[k] praising and glorifying the Lord:

All the people gave a loud^[l] shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established. ¹² Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders^[m]—older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established^[n]—were weeping loudly,^[o] and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. ¹³ People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly^[p] that the sound was heard a long way off.