On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord,(A) even though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid. They gave money to the stonecutters and artisans, and gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so they would bring cedar wood from Lebanon to Joppa by sea,(B) according to the authorization given them by King Cyrus of Persia.(C)

Rebuilding the Temple

In the second month of the second year after they arrived at God’s house in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak,(D) and the rest of their brothers, including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began to build. They appointed the Levites who were twenty years old or more to supervise the work on the Lord’s house.(E)

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