Ezra 6

1Then King Darius issued a decree, and they searched in the house of the archives, where the treasures were stored, there in Babylon.

2And in Ecbatana, the fortress that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found, and this was written in it as a record:

3In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. Its height shall be sixty cubits, and its width sixty cubits,

4with three layers of dressed stone and one layer of new timber, and let the cost be given from the king’s house.

5And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place; and you shall put them in the house of God.

6Now Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your associates, the officials of Persia who are in Beyond the River, keep far away from there.

7Leave the work on this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site.

8Moreover, I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these Jewish elders as they rebuild this house of God: Their expenses are to be paid promptly from the royal revenues—the tribute collected in Beyond the River—so that the work is not interrupted.

9And whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests who are in Jerusalem—let it be given to them day by day without fail,

10so that they may offer pleasing aromas to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

11And from me a decree is issued: if any man alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out from his house, and he shall be impaled on it; and his house shall be made a refuse heap because of this.

12And may the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who stretches out his hand to alter this, to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued a decree; let it be done with all diligence.

13Then Tattenai, the governor of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did exactly so, in accordance with what King Darius had sent.

14And the elders of the Jews were building and prospering through the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building by the decree of the God of Israel and by the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

15And this house was finished by the third day of the month Adar, which was the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

16And the sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the sons of the exile celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

17And they offered for the dedication of this house of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering for all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

18And they set up the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions for the service of God that is in Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.

19And the sons of the exile kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

20For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves as one; all of them were clean. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the sons of the exile, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.

21The sons of Israel who had returned from the exile ate, together with everyone who had separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to join them, to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel.

22And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because Yahweh had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.