Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return^(A)

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,^(B) the Lord moved the heart^(C) of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

Rebuilding the Altar

3 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns,^(A) the people assembled^(B) together as one in Jerusalem. ² Then Joshua^(C) son of Jozadak^(D) and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel^(E) and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses^(F) the man of God. ³ Despite their fear^(G) of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices.^(H)

¹⁰ When the builders laid^(A) the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets,^(B) and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise^(C) the Lord, as prescribed by David^(D) king of Israel.^{(E) 11} With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:

And all the people gave a great shout^(G) of praise to the Lord, because the foundation^(H) of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹² But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple,^(I) wept^(J) aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. ¹³ No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy^(K) from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.