48 The priests also rebuilt the inside and the outside of the temple, and they cleaned the temple courtyard, making it a proper place for worship once again.
49 The priests made some new bowls to be used in worship, and they took into the temple the lampstand, the incense altar, and the table for the sacred bread.
50 They burned incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the stand, filling the temple with light.
51 Then they set the sacred bread on the table and hung up the temple curtains. Finally, everything was done.
52-53 It was now the twenty-fifth day of Chislev, the ninth month, in the year 148 of the Syrian Kingdom. On this day the priests got up early to sacrifice an animal on the new altar, just as the Law of Moses commands.
54 Exactly three years earlier, the Gentiles had offered sacrifices to their idols on the altar and had made it unfit for worship. But now the priests were worshiping God at the altar again, while the rest of the people sang and played harps, cymbals, and small stringed instruments.
55 Then everyone lay face down on the ground to honor and praise the Lord who had given them victory.