Ezra 3

New King James Version

Worship Restored at Jerusalem

3 And when the^(A)seventh month had come, and the children of Israelwerein 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, asit is^(E)written in the Law of Moses the man of God.³ Though fearhad comeupon 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 theLord,boththe morning and evening burnt offerings.^4 (G)They also kept the Feast of Tabernacles,^(H)asit iswritten, and^(I)offeredthe daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day.⁵ Afterwardsthey offeredthe^(J)regular burnt offering, andthosefor New Moons and for all the appointed feasts of theLordthat were consecrated, andthoseof everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to theLord.⁶ From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to theLord, although the foundation of the temple of theLordhad 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, beganwork^(O)and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of theLord.⁹ Then Jeshuawithhis sons and brothers, Kadmielwithhis sons, and the sons of^[e]Judah, arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God: the sons of Henadadwiththeir sons and their brethren the Levites.

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

Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised theLord, because the foundation of the house of theLordwas 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.