Rebuilding the Altar

1 ^kWhen the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and ^lZerubbabel the son of ^mShealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, ⁿas it is written in the Law of Moses the ^oman of God. 3 They set the altar in its place, ^pfor fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and ^qthey offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. 4 ^rAnd they kept the Feast of Booths, ^sas it is written, ^tand offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, 5 and after that the regular burnt ^uofferings, the offerings at the new moon ^vand at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made 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 yet laid. 7 So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, ^wand food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians ^xto bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, ^yaccording to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Rebuilding the Temple

8 Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, ^zZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and ^zJeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They ^aappointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to ^bsupervise the work of the house of the Lord. 9 And ^zJeshua with his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together ^bsupervised the workmen in the house of God, along with the ^csons of Henadad and the Levites, their sons and brothers.

10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, ^daccording to the directions of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

And 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 heads of fathers’ houses, ^fold men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding

1 Now when ^gthe adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever ^hsince the days of ⁱEsarhaddon king of Assyria ^jwho brought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, ^k“You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, ^las King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

4 Then ^mthe people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

6 And in the reign of ⁿAhasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

7 In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and ^oMithredath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written ^pin Aramaic and translated.¹ 8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: 9 Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the ^qjudges, the ^rgovernors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the ^sElamites, 10 and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble ^tOsnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River. 11 (This is a copy of the letter that they sent.) “To Artaxerxes the king: Your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River, send greeting. And now 12 be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are ^vfinishing the walls and repairing the foundations. 13 Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay ^wtribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired. 14 Now because we eat the salt of the palace² and it is not fitting for us to witness the king’s dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, 15 in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste. 16 We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”

The King Orders the Work to Cease

17 The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now 18 the letter that you sent to us has been ^xplainly read before me. 19 And I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. 20 And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, ^ywho ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom ^ztribute, custom, and toll were paid. 21 Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. 22 And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”

23 Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. 24 Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.