Ezra 6:11-22 ▼

11 And I issued a decree that any man who violates this edict, a timber shall be pulled out from his house and he shall be impaled on it and his house shall be made a refuse heap on account of this.

12 May the God who has caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who stretches out his hand to change it, so as to destroy that house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree, let it be done with all diligence!”

13 Then Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues carried out the decree with all diligence, just as King Darius had sent.

14 And the elders of the Jews were building and succeeding through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. So they built and completed it according to the decree of the God of Israel and the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

15 And this house was brought to completion on the third day of the month Adar; it was the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

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

17 They brought near for the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel 12 male goats, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel.

18 Then they appointed the priests to their sections and the Levites in their divisions for the service of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

19 And the exiles celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth of the first month.

20 For the priests and the Levites had cleansed themselves together; all of them were clean. Then they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, both for their brothers the priests and for themselves.

21 Then the sons of Israel who returned from exile and all those who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to join them, to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, ate the Passover.

22 And they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with gladness, for Yahweh had caused them to be glad and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.