Ezra 3

1When the seventh month arrived and Israel's sons were in the cities, the people assembled as one man to Jerusalem.

2Jeshua son of Jozadak arose with his brothers the priests, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as written in the law of Moses the man of God.

3They set the altar on its bases because dread from the peoples of those lands had fallen upon them, and they offered burnt offerings to Yahweh upon it—burnt offerings for morning and evening.

4They celebrated the Feast of Booths as written, and presented burnt offerings day by day in proper number, according to the ordinance of each day's requirement.

5Afterward the continual burnt offering, new moon offerings, those for all the consecrated appointed seasons of Yahweh, and every freewill offering anyone willingly presented to Yahweh.

6From the first day of the seventh month they began offering burnt offerings to Yahweh, but the foundation of Yahweh's temple was not yet laid.

7They gave money to the stonecutters and craftsmen, along with food, drink, and oil for the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the authorization Cyrus king of Persia had granted them.

8In the second year of their coming to God's house in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brothers the priests and the Levites, along with all who had come from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to oversee the service of Yahweh's house.

9Jeshua stood with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, all together to oversee the workers in God's house—the sons of Henadad, their sons and brothers, the Levites.

10When the builders founded the temple of Yahweh, they stationed the arrayed priests with trumpets, and the Levites, sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise Yahweh by the hands of David king of Israel.

11They responded with praise and thanksgiving to Yahweh, "For he is good, for his lovingkindness endures forever toward Israel." All the people raised a great shout, praising Yahweh because the foundation of Yahweh's house had been laid.

12Many of the priests, Levites, and family heads—the elders who had seen the first house—cried with a loud voice when they laid this house's foundation right before their eyes, while many shouted joyfully, lifting their voices.

13The people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people raised a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.