Ezra 3:11-13

International Standard Version

¹¹ And they sang in unison^[a] to one another, giving thanks to the Lord:

And all the people shouted out loudly in praise to the Lord when the foundation of the Lord’s Temple was laid.

Remembering the Former Temple

¹² Now a number of the priests, the Levities, and the leading officials of the elders—who were very^[b] elderly—had seen the former Temple with their own eyes. When they observed the foundation of the Temple being laid, they wept with a loud voice, while the rest of them shouted for joy. ¹³ As a result, the people couldn’t distinguish between the noise coming from the shouts of joy and the noise coming from the weeping people, because everyone^[c] was shouting loudly and could be heard a long way off.