Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in
Babylonia, in the house of the archives where the documents were
stored. And in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of
Media, a scroll was found on which this was written: “A record. In
the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree:
Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt,
the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be
retained. Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty
cubits, with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber.
Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. And also let the gold
and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took
out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be
restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each
to its place. You shall put them in the house of God.”
“Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the
River, Shethar-bozenai, and your associates the governors who are
in the province Beyond the River, keep away. Let 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. Moreover, I make a
decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for
the rebuilding of this house of God. The cost is to be paid to
these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the
tribute of the province from Beyond the River. And whatever is
needed—bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of
heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem
require—let that be given to them day by day without fail, that
they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray
for the life of the king and his sons. Also I make a decree that if
anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house,
and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a
dunghill. May the God who has caused his name to dwell there
overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter
this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I
Darius make a decree; let it be done with all diligence.”
Then, according to the word sent by Darius the king, Tattenai,
the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and
their associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had
ordered. And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the
prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo.
They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by
decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia; and this
house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the
sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the
rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this
house of God with joy. They offered at the dedication of this house
of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for
all Israel 12 male goats, according to the number of the tribes of
Israel. And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites
in their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is
written in the Book of Moses.
On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles
kept the Passover. For the priests and the Levites had purified
themselves together; all of them were clean. So they slaughtered
the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow
priests, and for themselves. It was eaten by the people of Israel
who had returned from exile, and also by every one who had joined
them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of
the land to worship the LORD, the God of Israel. And they kept the
Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had
made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to
them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the
God of Israel.
