Ezra and Nehemiah 3
1 And the seventh month came on, and
the children of Israel were in their cities, and the
people assembled as one man at Jerusalem.
2 Then stood up Jesus the
son of Josedec, and his brethren the priests, and
Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and his brethren, and
they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer upon it
whole-burnt-offerings, according to the things that were written in the law of
Moses the man of God.
3 And they set up the altar on its
place, for there was a terror upon them because of the people of the lands:
and the whole-burnt-offering was offered up upon it to the Lord morning and
evening. 4 And they kept the feast of
tabernacles, according to that which was written, and
offered whole-burnt-offerings daily in number
according to the ordinance, the exact daily rate.
5 And after this the perpetual
whole-burnt-offering, and offering for the season of
new moon, and for all the hallowed feasts to the Lord, and for every one that
offered a free-will-offering to the Lord.
6 On the first day of the seventh
month they began to offer whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord: but the
foundation of the house of the Lord was not laid.
7 And they gave money to the
stone-hewers and carpenters, and meat and drink, and oil, to the Sidonians,
and Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Libanus to the sea of Joppa, according
to the grant of Cyrus king of the Persians to them.
8 And in the second year of their
coming to the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zorobabel
the son of Salathiel, and Jesus the
son of Josedec, and the rest of their brethren the
priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, and
they appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, over the workmen
in the house of the Lord. 9 And Jesus
and his sons and his brethren stood, Cadmiel and his sons the sons of Juda,
over them that wrought the works in the house of God: the sons of Enadad,
their sons and their brethren the Levites.
10 And they laid a foundation for
building the house of the Lord: and the priests in their robes stood with
trumpets and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord,
according to the order of David king of Israel.
11 And they answered
each other with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord,
saying, For it is good, for
his mercy to Israel endures for ever. And all the
people shouted with a loud voice to praise the Lord at the laying the
foundation of the house of the Lord.
12 But many of the priests and the
Levites, and the elder men, heads of families, who had seen the former house
on its foundation, and who saw this house with their
eyes, wept with a loud voice: but the multitude shouted with joy to raise a
song. 13 And the people did not
distinguish the voice of the glad shout from the voice of the weeping of the
people: for the people shouted with a loud voice, and the voice was heard even
from afar off.