Ezra 3:10-13

GOD’S WORD Translation

A Celebration After the Laying of the Temple’s Foundation

¹⁰ The builders laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple. Then the priests who were dressed in their robes took their places with trumpets, and the Levites who were Asaph’s descendants took their places with cymbals to praise the Lord according to the instructions of King David of Israel. ¹¹ As they praised and gave thanks to the Lord, they sang antiphonally:

Then all the people shouted, “Praise the Lord,” because the foundation for the house of the Lord had been laid.

¹² But many of the priests, Levites, and the heads of the families who were old enough to have seen the first temple with their own eyes began to sob when they saw the foundation of this temple. Many others shouted for joy. ¹³ No one could distinguish between the joyful shouts and the loud sobbing because the people were shouting so loudly. The noise was heard from far away.