1Then Darius the king made a decree, and they searched in the house of the books where the treasures were laid up there in Babylon.
2And there was found at Ahmetha, in the palace that is in Media the province, one scroll; and thus was written in its midst, a record:
3In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, let the house be built, the place where they sacrifice sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid; its height sixty cubits, its breadth sixty cubits;
4three courses of great stones, and a course of new timber; and let the cost be given from the king's house.
5And also the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, let them be returned, and let it go to the temple that is in Jerusalem, to its place, and you shall deposit them in the house of God.
6Now, Tattenai, governor beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their companions the Apharsachites who are beyond the River, be far from there;
7leave the work of that house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build that house of God in its place.
8And from me a decree is set as to what you shall do with these elders of the Jews for the building of that house of God: that from the goods of the king, of the tribute beyond the River, diligently the cost be given to these men, that they not cease.
9And what is needed—both young bulls and rams and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests who are in Jerusalem—let it be given to them day by day without fail;
10that they may be offering sacrifices of sweet savor to the God of heaven, and praying for the life of the king and his sons.
11And from me a decree is set: that every man who alters this word, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and impaled upon it; and let his house be made a dunghill for this.
12And may the God who caused his name to dwell there overthrow every king and people who puts forth his hand to alter, to destroy that house of God which is in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have set a decree; let it be done diligently.
13Then Tattenai, governor beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, thus they did diligently.
14And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished, by the command of the God of Israel, and by the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
15And 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.
16And the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.
17And they offered at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
18And they appointed the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, over the service of God which is in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.
19And the children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth of the first month.
20For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves as one; all of them were pure; and they offered the Passover (shachat) for all the children of the captivity, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.
21And the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate, and all who had separated themselves to them from the uncleanness of the nations of the land, to seek YHWH the God of Israel.
22And they kept the feast (chag) of unleavened bread seven days with joy; for YHWH had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.