Darius’s Search

6 King Darius gave the order, and they searched^(A) in the library of Babylon in the archives.^{[a](B) 2} But it was in the fortress of Ecbatana in the province of Media^(C) that a scroll was found with this record written on it:

³ In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree^(D) concerning the house of God in Jerusalem:

Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its original foundations be retained.^[b] Its height is to be ninety feet^[c] and its width ninety feet,^{(E) 4} with three layers of cut^[d] stones and one of timber.^(F) The cost is to be paid from the royal treasury.^{[e](G) 5} The gold and silver articles of God’s house that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon must also be returned. They are to be brought to the temple in Jerusalem where they belong^[f] and put into the house of God.^(H)

Darius’s Decree

⁶ Therefore, you must stay away from that place, Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and your^[g] colleagues, the officials in the region.^{(I) 7} Leave the construction of the house of God alone. Let the governor^(J) and elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its original site.

⁸ I hereby issue a decree concerning what you are to do, so that the elders of the Jews can rebuild the house of God:

The cost is to be paid in full to these men out of the royal revenues^(K) from the taxes of the region west of the Euphrates River, so that the work will not stop. ⁹ Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of the heavens, or wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—let it be given to them every day without fail,^{(L) 10} so that they can offer sacrifices of pleasing aroma to the God of the heavens and pray for the life of the king and his sons.^(M)

¹¹ I also issue a decree concerning any man who interferes with this directive:

Let a beam be torn from his house and raised up; he will be impaled on it, and his house will be made into a garbage dump because of this offense.^{(N) 12} May the God who caused his name to dwell there^(O) overthrow any king or people who dares^[h] to harm or interfere with this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out diligently.

¹³ Then Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues^(P) diligently carried out what King Darius had decreed. ¹⁴ So the Jewish elders continued successfully with the building under the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo.^(Q) They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus,^(R) Darius, and King Artaxerxes^(S) of Persia. ¹⁵ This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar^(T) in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

Temple Dedication and the Passover

¹⁶ Then the Israelites, including the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles, celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. ¹⁷ For the dedication of God’s house they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, as well as twelve male goats^(U) as a sin offering for all Israel—one for each Israelite tribe. ¹⁸ They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the book of Moses.^(V)

¹⁹ The exiles^(W) observed the Passover^(X) on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²⁰ All of the priests and Levites were ceremonially clean, because they had purified themselves. They killed the Passover lamb for themselves, their priestly brothers, and all the exiles.^{(Y) 21} The Israelites who had returned from exile^(Z) ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land^[i](AA) in order to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. ²² They observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days^(AB) with joy, because the Lord had made them joyful, having changed the Assyrian king’s attitude toward them, so that he supported them^[j] in the work on the house of the God of Israel.^(AC)

Solomon’s Blessing

⁵⁴ When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven,^{(A) 55} and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel^(B) with a loud voice: ⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord! He has given rest^(C) to his people Israel according to all he has said. Not one of all the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed.^{(D) 57} May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us^{(E) 58} so that he causes us to be devoted^[a] to him,^(F) to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors. ⁵⁹ May my words with which I have made my petition before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night. May he uphold his servant’s cause and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires.^{(G) 60} May all the peoples of the earth know that the Lord is God. There is no other!^{(H) 61} Be wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord our God^(I) to walk in his statutes and to keep his commands, as it is today.”

⁶² The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in the Lord’s presence. ⁶³ Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats.^(J) In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicated^(K) the Lord’s temple.^(L)

⁶⁴ On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord’s temple because that was where he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings,^(M) since the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.^(N)

⁶⁵ Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath^[b](O) to the Brook of Egypt^(P)—observed the festival at that time^(Q) in the presence of the Lord our God, seven days, and seven more days—fourteen days.^{[c](R) 66} On the fifteenth day^[d] he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went to their homes^[e] rejoicing and with happy hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.^(S)

²⁸ We know that all things work together^[a] for the good^[b] of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.^(A)