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.
56 For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the new altar and offered gifts and sacrifices to thank the Lord and to ask his blessing.
57 The people decorated the front of the temple with gold crowns and small shields, and they repaired the rooms where the priests lived, hanging new doors in them, as well as new gates for the temple.