10
that they may present sweet odours to the God of the heavens, and pray for the life of the king and of his sons.
11
Also I have given order that whosoever shall alter this rescript, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon, and let his house be made a dunghill for this.
12
And the God that has caused his name to dwell there overthrow every king and people that shall put forth their hand to alter [or] to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have given [this] order; let it be done diligently.
13
Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shethar-boznai, and their companions, because of that which king Darius had sent, did so diligently.
14
And the elders of the Jews built; and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and completed [it] according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
15
And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of king Darius.
16
And the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy;
17
and they presented at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and for a sin-offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
18
And they set the priests in their classes, and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem: as it is written in the book of Moses.
19
And the children of the captivity held the passover upon the fourteenth of the first month.
20
For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves as one [man]: they were all pure; and they killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.
21
And the children of Israel that were come back out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek Jehovah the God of Israel, did eat;
22
and they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; for Jehovah had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.