The Temple Completed and Dedicated

¹³ Then ^(A)Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues carried out the decree with all diligence, just as King Darius had ^[a]ordered. ¹⁴ And ^(B)the elders of the Jews ^[b]were successful in building through the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And ^[c]they finished building following the command of the God of Israel and the decree ^(C)of Cyrus, ^(D)Darius, and ^(E)Artaxerxes king of Persia. ¹⁵ Now this ^[d]temple was completed ^[e]on the third day of the ^(F)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 ^[f]exiles, ^(G)celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. ¹⁷ They offered for the dedication of this temple of God a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel ^(H)twelve male goats, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸ Then they appointed the priests to ^(I)their divisions and the Levites in ^(J)their sections for the service of God in Jerusalem, ^(K)as it is written in the Book of Moses.

The Passover Held

^19 (L)The exiles held the Passover on ^(M)the fourteenth of the first month. ^20 (N)For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were pure. Then ^(O)they slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the exiles, both for their brothers the priests and for themselves. ²¹ And the sons of Israel who returned from exile and ^(P)all those who had separated themselves from ^(Q)the impurity of the nations of the land to join them, to seek the Lord God of Israel, ate the Passover. ²² And ^(R)they held the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the Lord had made them happy, and ^(S)had turned the heart of ^(T)the king of Assyria toward them to ^[g]encourage them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.