 1 When the seventh month had come and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers. They built the altar of the God of Israel in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. 3 They set the altar on its bases, for fear was on them because of the people of those countries. They offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings both morning and evening. 4 They kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required. 5 Afterward they offered the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were set apart, and of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to the Lord. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not laid. 7 They gave silver also to the masons and to the carpenters and they gave meat and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and to the people of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had from King Cyrus of Persia. 8 In the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem began work. They chose the Levites from 20 years old and upward to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. 9 Jeshua stood up together with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, to set forward the workmen in the house of God the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites. 10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their robes with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to King David of Israel. 11 They sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord because He is good. For His mercy endures forever toward Israel. Then all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, ancient men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice and many shouted aloud for joy 13 so that the people could not tell the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people. The people shouted with a loud shout and the noise was heard far away.
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