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¹ Then Darius the king made a decree, and they searched in the house of the scrolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.² And there was found in Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a scroll. And in it was a record written thus:³ In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king placed a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: let the house be built, the place where they offered sacrifices and let the foundations of it be strongly laid. Its height shallbe sixty cubits; its breadth sixty cubits;⁴ with three layers of rolling stones, and a layer of new timber. And let the expenses be given out of the king's house.⁵ And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, that Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be given back and go to the temple in Jerusalem, to their place. And put them in the house of God.⁶ Now, Tatnai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-boznai, and your associates, the officials who are Beyond the River, you be far from there.⁷ Let the work of this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews, and the elders of the Jews, build this house of God in its place.⁸ Also I make a decree as to what you shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of that house of God, that the exact expense be given to these men from the king's property, out of the tax Beyond the River, so that they may not haveto cease working.⁹ And that which they need, both young bulls and rams and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of Heaven; wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as say the priests in Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail,¹⁰ so that they may offer sacrifices of sweet odor to the God of Heaven, and pray for the life of the king and of his sons.¹¹ Also I have given a decree that whoever shall change this word, let timber be torn out from his house, and let him be impaled and hanged on it. And let his house be made an outhouse for this.¹² And may the God who has caused His name to dwell there destroy any kings and people who shall put their hand to change or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have placed a decree. Let it be done exactly.

¹³ Then Tatnai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-boznai, and their associates exactly did so, according to that which Darius the king had sent.¹⁴ And the elders of the Jews were building. And they were succeeding through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built, and finished, according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according tothe command of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes the king of Persia.¹⁵ And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.¹⁶ And the sons of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the sons of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.¹⁷ And they offered at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats, for a sin offering for all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.¹⁸ And they raised up the priests in their sections, and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God which is in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.¹⁹ And the sons of the exile performed the Passover on the fourteenth of the first month.²⁰ For the priests and the Levites were purified together; all of them were pure. And they slaughtered the passover lamb for all the sons of the exile, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.²¹ And the sons of Israel ate, those who had returned from the exile, and who had all separated themselves to them from the impurity of the nations of the land, to seek Jehovah the God of Israel.²² And they performed the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy. For Jehovah had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to make their handsstrong in the work of the house of God, theGod of Israel.