Ezra 3:8-11

8 So in the second month of the year after they came back to the site of the Temple in Jerusalem, they began work. Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the rest of their people, the priests, and the Levites, in fact all the exiles who had come back to Jerusalem, joined in the work. All the Levites twenty years of age or older were put in charge of the work of rebuilding the Temple.

9 The Levite Jeshua and his sons and relatives, and Kadmiel and his sons (the clan of Hodaviah ) joined together in taking charge of the rebuilding of the Temple. (They were helped by the Levites of the clan of Henadad.)

10 When the builders started to lay the foundation of the Temple, the priests in their robes took their places with trumpets in their hands, and the Levites of the clan of Asaph stood there with cymbals. They praised the Lord according to the instructions handed down from the time of King David. ¹

11 They sang the Lord's praises, repeating the refrain: ² "The Lord is good, and his love for Israel is eternal." Everyone shouted with all their might, praising the Lord, because the work on the foundation of the Temple had been started.

Ezra 3:8-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 3

This chapter relates how that the people of Israel returned from captivity, gathered to Jerusalem, and set up the altar, where sacrifices were offered, Ezr 3:1-3, and kept the feast of tabernacles, and offered the sacrifices of that, besides the daily sacrifice, and of other festivals; and contributed to the workmen that prepared for the building of the temple, Ezr 3:4-7 and began it by laying the foundation of it; which to some was matter of joy, to others of grief, on different accounts, Ezr 3:8-13.

Cross References

• 1. 3.101 Chronicles 25.1.
• 2. 3.111 Chronicles 16.34;2 Chronicles 5.13; 7.3;Psalms 100.5; 106.1; 107.1; 118.1; 136.1;Jeremiah 33.11.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Probable text (see 2.40)] Hodaviah; [Hebrew] Judah.