10
that they may offer sweet savours to the God of heaven, and that they may pray for the life of the king and his sons.
11
And a decree has been made by me, that every man who shall alter this word, timber shall be pulled down from his house, and let him be lifted up and slain upon it, and his house shall be confiscated.
12
And may the God whose name dwells there, overthrow every king and people who shall stretch out his hand to alter or destroy the house of God which is in Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be diligently .
13
Then Thanthanai the governor on this side beyond the river, Satharbuzanai, and his fellow-servants, according to that which king Darius sent, so they did diligently.
14
And the elders of the Jews and the Levites built, at the prophecy of Aggaeus the prophet, and Zacharias the son of Addo: and they built up, and finished , by the decree of the God of Israel, and by the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Arthasastha, kings of the Persians.
15
And they finished this house by the third day of the month Adar, which is the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
16
And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of the house of God with gladness.
17
And they offered for the dedication of the house of God a hundred calves, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, twelve kids of the goats for a sin-offering for all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
18
And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their separate orders, for the services of God in Jerusalem, according to the writing of the book of Moses.
19
And the children of the captivity kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
20
For the priests and Levites were purified, all were clean to a man, and they slew the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.