Ezra 6:17-22

17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin-offering for all Yisra'el, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Yisra'el.

18 They set the Kohanim in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Yerushalayim; as it is written in the book of Moshe.

19 The children of the captivity kept the Pesach on the fourteenth [day] of the first month.

20 For the Kohanim and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were pure: and they killed the Pesach for all the children of the captivity, and for their brothers the Kohanim, and for themselves.

21 The children of Yisra'el who had come again out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, ate,

22 and kept the feast of matzah seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Ashshur to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Yisra'el.

Ezra 6:17-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 6

Darius, on receiving the letter from his officers in Samaria, searched for the decree of Cyrus, and found it, and which he confirmed, Ezr 6:1-7 and made a fresh decree, and ordered expenses to be given out of his tribute for the building of the temple, and for the sacrifices of it; and that whosoever altered it should be hanged on the timber of his own house, and imprecated a curse on those that should destroy the house of God, Ezr 6:8-12 upon which the building went on, and was finished, Ezr 6:13-15 and the temple was dedicated to God in a solemn manner, Ezr 6:16-18, and the passover was kept by all the people, Ezr 6:19-22.