1
Then Darius, the king, gave a commandment, and a search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.
2
And there was found in the coffer of the palace that
is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein
was a record thus written:
3
In the first year of Cyrus, the king,
the same Cyrus, the king, gave a commandment
concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, that the house be built as a place for sacrifices to be offered, and let the walls thereof be covered; the height thereof sixty cubits,
and the breadth thereof sixty cubits;
4
the orders, three of stones of marble and one order of new timber and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house.
5
And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which
was at Jerusalem and brought unto Babylon, be restored and go again unto the temple which
is at Jerusalem, to his place, and let them be placed in the house of God.
6
Now
therefore, Tatnai, captain of the other side of the river, Shetharboznai, and your companions, the Apharsachites, who
are on the other side of the river, remove yourselves from there.
7
Leave the work of this house of God unto the captain of the Jews and to their elders that they may build this house of God in his place.
8
And by me is given the commandment regarding what ye shall do with the elders of these Jews, to build this house of God: that of the king’s goods, of the tribute from the other side of the river, the expenses be given unto these men, that they not cease.
9
And that which they have need of, both young bullocks and rams and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests which
are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day that they not cease:
10
that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.
11
It is also given by my commandment that whoever shall alter this word, let a timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged upon it, and let his house be made a dunghill for this.
12
And the God that has caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter
or to destroy this house of God which
is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made the decree; let it be done with speed.
13
Then Tatnai, captain of the other side of the river, Shetharboznai, and their companions, speedily did according to that which Darius, the king, had sent.
14
And the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered according to the prophecy of Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Iddo. They built and finished
it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus and of Darius and of 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 Darius, the king.
16
And the sons of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the sons of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,
17
and they offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and as the sin of all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
18
And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses over the work of God, which
is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.
19
And the sons of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth
day of the first month.
20
For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them
were pure, and killed the passover for all the sons of the captivity and for their brethren, the priests, and for themselves.
21
And the sons of Israel who had returned out of captivity and all those who had separated themselves unto them from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, ate
22
and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; for the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.