Ezra 6:17-22

17 For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering^[a] for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel.

18 And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

The Passover

19 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover.

20 The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves.

21 So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the LORD, the God of Israel.

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

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.

Cross References

• 1. S 2 Samuel 6:13; S 2 Chronicles 29:21; S 2 Chronicles 30:24; Ezra 8:35
• 2. 1 Chronicles 23:6; S 2 Chronicles 35:4; Luke 1:5
• 3. S 1 Chronicles 24:1
• 4. Numbers 3:6-9; Numbers 8:9-11; Numbers 18:1-32
• 5. S Exodus 12:11; S Numbers 28:16
• 6. S 2 Chronicles 30:15,17; 2 Chronicles 35:11
• 7. Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 9:2
• 8. S Deuteronomy 18:9; Ezra 9:11; Ezekiel 36:25
• 9. 1 Chronicles 22:19; Psalms 14:2
• 10. S Exodus 12:17
• 11. S Ezra 1:1

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "purification offering"