Ezra 3-4

New American Standard Bible

Altar and Sacrifices Restored

3 Now when the seventh month came, and ^(A)the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one person to Jerusalem. ² Then ^(B)Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and ^(C)Zerubbabel the son ^(D)of Shealtiel and his brothers, rose up and ^(E)built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, ^(F)as it is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God. ³ So they set up the altar on its foundation, because ^[a](G)they were terrified of the peoples of the lands; and they ^(H)offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. ⁴ They also celebrated the ^(I)Feast of ^[b]Booths, ^(J)as it is written, and offered ^[c]the prescribed number of burnt offerings daily, ^(K)according to the ordinance, ^[d]as each day required; ⁵ and afterward there was a ^(L)continual burnt offering, also ^(M)for the new moons and ^(N)for all the appointed festivals of the Lord that were consecrated, and from everyone who offered a ^[e]voluntary offering to the Lord. ⁶ From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid. ⁷ Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and ^(O)food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians ^(P)to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at ^(Q)Joppa, according to the permission they had ^[f]from ^(R)Cyrus king of Persia.

Temple Restoration Begun

⁸ Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, ^(S)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and ^(T)appointed the Levites who were twenty years old and upward to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. ⁹ Then ^(U)Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of ^[g]Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God.

¹⁰ Now when the builders had ^(V)laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, ^[h]the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord ^(W)according to the ^[i]directions of King David of Israel. ¹¹ And ^(X)they sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, “^(Y)For He is good, for His favor is upon Israel forever.” And all the people shouted with a great shout of joy when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹² Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, ^(Z)the old men who had seen the first ^[j]temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³ so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, because the people were shouting with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Enemies Hinder the Work

4 Now when ^(AA)the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that ^(AB)the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, ² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for like you, we seek your God; ^(AC)and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of ^(AD)Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” ³ But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “^(AE)You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build for the Lord God of Israel, ^(AF)just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”

⁴ Then ^(AG)the people of the land ^[k]discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, ⁵ and bribed advisers against them to frustrate their advice all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

⁶ Now in the reign of ^[l](AH)Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

⁷ And in the days of ^[m]Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the ^[n]text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated ^(AI)from Aramaic.

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

^8 [o]Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows— ^9 [p]Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and ^(AJ)the rest of their colleagues, the judges and ^(AK)the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites, ¹⁰ and the rest of the nations which the great and honorable ^[q]Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the region beyond the Euphrates River. ^(AL)And now ¹¹ this is a copy of the letter which they sent to him:

“To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men of the region beyond the Euphrates River; and now ¹² let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding ^(AM)the rebellious and evil city and ^(AN)are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. ¹³ Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are finished, ^(AO)they will not pay tribute, custom tax, or toll, and it will ^[r]be detrimental to the revenue of the kings. ¹⁴ Now because we ^[s]are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s shame, for this reason we have sent word and informed the king, ¹⁵ so that a search may be conducted in the record books of your fathers. And you will discover in the record books and learn that that city is a rebellious city and detrimental to kings and provinces, and that they have revolted within it in past days; for this reason that city was laid waste. ¹⁶ We are informing the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls finished, then as a result of this you will have no possession in the province beyond the Euphrates River.”

The King Replies and Work Stops

¹⁷ Then the king sent a response to Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and in the rest of the provinces beyond the Euphrates River: “Peace. And now, ¹⁸ the document which you sent to us has been ^[t](AP)translated and read before me. ¹⁹ And a decree has been ^[u]issued by me, and a search has been conducted and it has been discovered that that city has risen up against the kings in past days, and that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it, ^20 (AQ)that mighty kings have ^[v]ruled over Jerusalem, governing all the provinces ^(AR)beyond the Euphrates River, and that ^(AS)tribute, custom tax, and toll were paid to them. ²¹ Now issue a decree to make those men stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. ²² And beware of being negligent in carrying out this matter; why should there be great damage, to the detriment of the kings?”

²³ Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ decree was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in a hurry to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by military force.

²⁴ Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem was discontinued, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.