1 Following the king’s announcements, Sisinnes, the commander of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, Sathrabuzanes, and their associates
2 supervised the holy work, carefully assisting the Judean elders and the temple officials.
3 The holy work flourished, while the prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesied.
4 They finished it by the command of the Lord God of Israel.
5 So with the consent of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, the kings of the Persians, the holy house was finished by the twenty-third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of King Darius.
6 The Israelites, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of those who returned from exile acted according to what was written in the scroll from Moses.
7 For the dedication of the Lord’s temple, they brought offerings of one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs,
8 and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the twelve leaders of the tribes of Israel.
9 The priests and the Levites stood dressed in their robes, according to their tribes, for the services of the Lord God of Israel according to the scroll from Moses; and the gatekeepers stood at each gate.
10 The Israelites who came from exile celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, after the priests and the Levites were purified together.
11 Not everyone returning from exile was purified, but the Levites were all purified together.
12 The Levites sacrificed the Passover lamb on behalf of the returned exiles, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.
13 The Israelites who had returned from exile, those who had separated themselves from the scandal of the neighboring peoples and sought the Lord, ate the Passover meal.
14 They also celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days, rejoicing before the Lord,
15 because he had changed the attitude of the king of the Assyrians toward them, to prepare them for the service of the Lord God of Israel.