The Decree of Darius

6 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives^(A) stored in the treasury at Babylon. ² A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:

Completion and Dedication of the Temple

¹³ Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates^(A) carried it out with diligence. ¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching^(B) of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus,^(C) Darius^(D) and Artaxerxes,^(E) kings of Persia. ¹⁵ The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.^(F)

¹⁶ Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication^(G) of the house of God with joy.

The Passover

¹⁹ On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover.^{(A) 20} The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered^(B) the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. ²¹ So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves^(C) from the unclean practices^(D) of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord,^(E) the God of Israel. ²² For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^(F) because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude^(G) of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.