Ezra 6

¹ Then king Darius promulgated a decree, and they made a quest for the scrolls that were put down in the house of depositories there in Babylon. ² But it was in the castle of Ecbatana in the province of Media that one roll was found, and this was written within it: Memorandum. ³ In year one of king Cyrus, king Cyrus promulgated a decree concerning the House of Eloah in Jerusalem: Let the House be rebuilt, a place for sacrificing sacrifices, and its foundations should be retained. Let its height be sixty cubits and its breadth be sixty cubits, ⁴ three courses of dressed stone and one course of timber; and let disbursement be granted from the king's house. ⁵ Also, the gold and silver vessels of the House of Eloah should be returned that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had transferred to Babylon. Let each go back to the temple in Jerusalem to its place; you shall put it down in the House of Eloah. ⁶ Now you, Tattenai viceroy Beyond-the Stream, Shethar-Bozenai, and you, their colleagues, the officials of Beyond-the-Stream, stay away from there. ⁷ Leave the viceroy of the Judeans and the greyhaired elders of the Judeans alone for the work on this House of Eloah. Let them rebuild this House of Eloah on its site. ⁸ So a decree is being promulgated from me as to what you shall do for these greyhaired elders of the Judeans in the rebuilding of this House of Eloah. Out of the king's resources, from the tribute of the province Beyond-the-Stream, disbursement shall be fully granted to these masters, so as not to halt the work. ⁹ And what is needed, such as young bulls, rams and lambs for ascent offerings to Eloah of the heavens, wheat, salt, turbid wine and oil, according to the word of the priests in Jerusalem, let it be granted to them day by day without fail, ¹⁰ so that they may be offering fragrant incense to Eloah of the heavens and be praying for the life of the king and his sons. ¹¹ So a decree is being promulgated from me that, as for any man who violates this rescript, a beam shall be torn out of his house; and lifted up, he shall be impaled on it. And his house shall be turned into ruins on account of this. ¹² May Eloah Who made His Name tabernacle there, overturn any king or people that stretches out his hand to disobey this rescript by harming this House of Eloah in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have promulgated the decree. Let it be carried out thoroughly. ¹³ Then Tattenai viceroy Beyond-the-Stream, Shethar-Bozenai and their colleagues carried this out thoroughly, just as king Darius had sent word. ¹⁴ So the greyhaired elders of the Judeans and the Levites were rebuilding and prospering because of the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. Thus they rebuilt and completed the work due to the command of Eloah of Israel and due to a decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia. ¹⁵ This House was finished on day three of the month of Adar, that is, in the year six of the reign of king Darius. ¹⁶ The sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites and the rest of the sons of the deportation held the dedication of this House of Eloah with exhilaration. ¹⁷ And they offered for the dedication of this House of Eloah a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats of the goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸ They set up the priests in their distributions and the Levites in their apportionments for the service of Eloah in Jerusalem, as prescribed in the scroll of Moses. ¹⁹ The sons of the deportation held the passover on the fourteenth of the first month. ²⁰ For the priests and the Levites had cleansed themselves as one man; all of them were clean. Then they slayed the passover for all the sons of the deportation and for their brother priests and for themselves. ²¹ So they ate: the sons of Israel who had returned from the deportation, and everyone who had joined them by separating himself from the uncleanness of the nations of the land, to seek after Yahweh Elohim of Israel. ²² They held the celebration of unleavened cakes seven days with rejoicing; for Yahweh made them rejoice, since He had turned the heart of the king of Assyria around toward them to fortify their hands in the work of the House of Elohim, the Elohim of Israel.