1Then Sisinnes, governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabouzanes and their associates, following the orders given by King Darius,
2diligently supervised the sacred works, assisting the elders of the Jews and the temple officials.
3And the sacred works prospered, while Haggai and Zechariah the prophets were prophesying.
4And they completed these things by the command of the Lord God of Israel, and with the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of the Persians.
5The house was completed on the twenty-third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of King Darius.
6And the sons of Israel—the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles who had joined them—acted in accordance with what is in the book of Moses.
7And they offered for the dedication of the temple of the Lord: one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs,
8and twelve male goats as a sin offering for all Israel, corresponding to the number of the twelve tribal leaders of Israel.
9And they stationed the priests in their vestments and the Levites in their divisions for the service of the Lord God of Israel, in accordance with the book of Moses, and the gatekeepers at each gate.
10And the returned exiles, the sons of Israel, celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, when the priests and the Levites were purified together,
11and all the sons of the captivity, for they had been purified. For the Levites had all been purified together.
12And they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the sons of the captivity, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.
13And the returned exiles, the sons of Israel, ate it, along with all who had separated themselves from the abominations of the nations of the land to seek the Lord.
14And they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, rejoicing before the Lord,
15because he had turned the heart of the king of the Assyrians toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the Lord God of Israel.
Open in the interactive reader →