Ezra
Chapter 6
1 King Darius gave an order, and they searched the records where the Babylon treasures were stored.
2 They found a scroll at Achmetha, in the palace in the Medes’ region, with this written record:
3 In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus ordered that God’s house in Jerusalem be rebuilt. This is where sacrifices were made. The foundation must be strong. It should be 60 cubits high and 60 cubits wide.
4 Use three layers of large stones and one layer of fresh wood, and let the cost be covered by the king’s funds.
5 Also, return the gold and silver dishes from God’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, and bring them back to the temple in Jerusalem, each to its spot, and put them in God’s house.
6 So now, Tatnai, governor across the river, Shetharboznai, and your fellow officials, the Apharsachites, who are across the river, stay away from there.
7 Do not interfere with the work on God’s house; let the Jewish leader and the Jewish elders rebuild God’s house where it stands.
8 I also make a rule about what you should do for the Jewish leaders who are rebuilding God’s house: give them what they need from the king’s wealth, including taxes from across the river, so they can keep working without delay.
9 They need young bulls, rams, lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, also wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as the priests in Jerusalem require. Give these to them every day without fail.
10 So they may give sweet-smelling sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the king’s and his sons’ lives.
11 I have also ordered that if anyone changes this command, wood should be torn from their house and they should be hanged on it, and their house should be turned into a pile of rubbish for this.
12 God, who has chosen to be honored there, will destroy any kings or nations that try to change or ruin this temple in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have ordered this; let it be done quickly.
13 Then Tatnai, the governor across the river, Shetharboznai, and their friends did quickly what King Darius had ordered.
14 The Jewish elders built and succeeded because of the words of the prophet Haggai and Zechariah, Iddo’s son. They finished building as God of Israel and kings Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes of Persia had ordered.
15 This house was completed on the third day of the month Adar, during the sixth year of King Darius’s rule.
16 The people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the other people who had been taken captive celebrated the dedication of God’s house happily.
17 At the dedication of God’s house, they gave a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs as offerings; and for the sin offering for all Israel, they gave twelve male goats, one for each tribe of Israel.
18 They organized the priests into their groups and the Levites into their duties for serving God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in Moses’ book.
19 The exiles celebrated Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
20 The priests and Levites had all purified themselves and were clean. They slaughtered the Passover lamb for the exiles, their fellow priests, and for themselves.
21 The Israelites who returned from being captives and all who left the pagan ways of the land to seek God, ate.
22 They celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with happiness because God had filled them with joy and made the king of Assyria favorable to them, helping them in the work of God’s house, the God of Israel.