以斯拉記 3
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
重建祭壇
3 到了七月，以色列人已安居各城，他們萬眾一心地聚集在耶路撒冷。 2 約薩達的兒子耶書亞及其他祭司、撒拉鐵的兒子所羅巴伯及其親屬，一起重新築造以色列上帝的祭壇，為要照上帝的僕人摩西在律法書上的記載在壇上獻燔祭。 3 他們雖然懼怕當地的居民，還是在原來的根基上重建祭壇，並早晚在上面向耶和華獻燔祭。 4 他們照律法書的記載守住棚節，每天按規定的數目獻上燔祭。 5 之後，他們獻上日常的燔祭，並在朔日[a]和耶和華所定的一切節期獻祭，又向耶和華獻上自願獻的祭。 6 儘管耶和華殿的根基還沒有立好，從七月一日起，他們就開始向耶和華獻燔祭。 7 他們付給石匠和木匠銀子，並經波斯王塞魯士批准，供給泰爾人和西頓人食物、酒和油，換取他們把香柏木從黎巴嫩經海路運到約帕。
開始重建聖殿
8 在回到耶路撒冷上帝殿的第二年二月，撒拉鐵的兒子所羅巴伯、約薩達的兒子耶書亞及其祭司和利未親族，以及所有從流亡之地回到耶路撒冷的人，開始重建耶和華的殿，並派二十歲以上的利未人做督工。 9 何達威雅[b]的後裔，即耶書亞及其子孫和弟兄、甲篾及其子孫，與利未人希拿達的子孫及其弟兄同心協力地監督在上帝殿裡做工的人。
10 工人立耶和華殿的根基時，祭司身穿禮服拿著號角，利未人亞薩的子孫拿著鈸各就各位，照以色列王大衛所定的規矩讚美耶和華。 11 他們彼此唱和，讚美、稱謝耶和華，說：
「祂是美善的，
因為祂向以色列人永施慈愛！」
所有人都高聲歡呼讚美耶和華，因為耶和華殿的根基已經立好。 12 許多曾見過舊殿的年長的祭司、利未人和族長看見這殿的根基，不禁放聲大哭，也有很多人高聲歡呼。 13 人們無法分辨是痛哭聲還是歡呼聲，因為眾人都大聲呼喊，聲音傳到遠處。
Ezra 3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 3
Restoration of Worship. 1 (A)Now when the seventh month[a] came, after the Israelites had settled in their cities, the people gathered as one in Jerusalem. 2 Then Jeshua, son of Jozadak, together with his kinsmen the priests, and Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, together with his kinsmen, began building the altar of the God of Israel in order to offer on it the burnt offerings prescribed in the law of Moses, the man of God. 3 (B)They set the altar on its foundations, for they lived in fear of the peoples of the lands,[b] and offered burnt offerings to the Lord on it, both morning and evening. 4 (C)They also kept the feast of Booths in the manner prescribed, and they offered the daily burnt offerings in the proper number required for each day. 5 Thereafter they offered regular burnt offerings, the sacrifices prescribed for the new moons and all the festivals sacred to the Lord, and those which anyone might bring as a voluntary offering to the Lord.
Laying the Foundations of the Temple. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they reinstituted the burnt offering to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid. 7 (D)Then they hired stonecutters and carpenters, and sent food and drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians that they might ship cedar trees from the Lebanon to the port of Joppa, as Cyrus, king of Persia, had authorized. 8 In the year after their coming to the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, son of Jozadak, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and Levites and all who had come from the captivity to Jerusalem, began by appointing the Levites twenty years of age and over to supervise the work on the house of the Lord. 9 Jeshua and his sons and kinsmen, with Kadmiel and Binnui, son of Hodaviah, and their sons and their kindred, the Levites, together undertook to supervise those who were engaged in the work on the house of God. 10 (E)While the builders were laying the foundation of the Lord’s temple, the priests in their vestments were stationed with trumpets and the Levites, sons of Asaph, with cymbals to praise the Lord in the manner laid down by David, king of Israel. 11 (F)They alternated in songs of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, “for he is good, for his love for Israel endures forever”;[c] and all the people raised a great shout of joy, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s house had been laid. 12 (G)Many of the priests, Levites, and heads of ancestral houses, who were old enough to have seen the former house, cried out in sorrow as they watched the foundation of the present house being laid. Many others, however, lifted up their voices in shouts of joy. 13 No one could distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from the sound of those who were weeping; for the people raised a mighty clamor which was heard far away.
Footnotes
- 3:1–2 The seventh month: Tishri (September–October), apparently of the first year of the return (538 B.C.), followed by events in the second year (v. 8). In that case it was Sheshbazzar who laid the foundations of the Temple (5:16), and it was in the second year of Darius I (520 B.C.) that Jeshua and Zerubbabel resumed work on the Temple that had been temporarily interrupted (Ezr 4:24–5:1; Hg 1:1; 2:1). The author, or a later editor, has set the construction and dedication of the Temple under Darius I back into the earliest period of the return. Shealtiel was the oldest son of King Jehoiachin (1 Chr 3:17–19); Zerubbabel was therefore Jehoiachin’s grandson; see note on Ezr 1:8.
- 3:3 Peoples of the lands: referring either to those who had never left Judah or to neighboring peoples—Edomites, Arabs, inhabitants of Samaria—who opposed those who returned.
- 3:11 “For he is good…forever”: a refrain occurring frequently in liturgies of ancient Israel (cf. Ps 136).
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.