²² For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^(A) because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude^(B) of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return^(A)

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,^(B) the Lord moved the heart^(C) of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

²¹ The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread^(A) for seven days with great rejoicing, while the Levites and priests praised the Lord every day with resounding instruments dedicated to the Lord.^[a]

²⁷ Praise be to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who has put it into the king’s heart^(A) to bring honor^(B) to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way

¹⁷ The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.^(A) Therefore the one who handed me over to you^(B) is guilty of a greater sin.”

⁶ For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival^(A) to the Lord. ⁷ Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders.

¹⁵ For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast.^(A) On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off^(B) from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work^(C) at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.