Worship Restored at Jerusalem
1 And when theseventh month had come, and the children of Israelwerein the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.
2 Then Jeshua the son ofJozadak and his brethren the priests,and Zerubbabel the son ofShealtiel and his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, asitiswritten in the Law of Moses the man of God.
3 Though fearhadcomeupon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its bases; and they offeredburnt offerings on it to theLord,boththe morning and evening burnt offerings.
4 They also kept the Feast of Tabernacles,asitiswritten, andofferedthe daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day.
5 Afterwardstheyofferedtheregular 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, andfood, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea, toJoppa,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,Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, beganworkand 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 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,the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise theLord, according to theordinance of David king of Israel.
11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to theLord:
# “ForHeisgood,
# For His mercyenduresforever toward Israel.”
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 andheads 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.