Ezra 3

The Altar Is Rebuilt

1When the seventh month came and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered as one in Jerusalem. 2Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests arose, along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the instruction of Moses, the man of God. 3They set the altar on its foundation despite their fear of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings upon it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening.

The Festival of Booths

4They kept the Festival of Booths as it is written and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance for each day, 5and afterward the continual burnt offering, the offerings for the new moons and for all the appointed festivals of the LORD that were consecrated, and the offerings of everyone who freely offered a freewill offering to the LORD. 6From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, although the foundation of the temple of the LORD had not yet been laid. 7They gave silver to the masons and carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians to bring cedar logs from Lebanon by sea to Joppa, according to the authorization they had received from Cyrus king of Persia.

The Foundation of the Temple Is Laid

8In the second year after they came to the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, the rest of their brothers the priests and Levites, and all who had come to Jerusalem from captivity began the work. They appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward to oversee the work of the house of the LORD. 9Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, stood together to oversee those doing the work in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers, the Levites. 10When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their vestments with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD according to the direction of David king of Israel. 11They sang to one another in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD:

“For he is good,
for his steadfast love toward Israel
endures forever.”

And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.

Weeping and Shouting Together

12But many of the priests, Levites, and heads of ancestral houses, old people who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many others raised their voices with a shout of joy. 13The people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.