Altar and Sacrifices Restored

Now when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one person to Jerusalem.

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.

And they held the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the Lord had made them happy, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to encourage them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Some of the sons of Israel and some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.

Since you are sent on the part of the king and his seven advisers to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God which is in your hand,

and of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah and seventy males with him;

and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and seventy males with them.

The exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve male goats for a sin offering, all as a burnt offering to the Lord.