1 When the seventh month arrived and the children of Israel were settled in their towns, the people came together in Jerusalem as one man.
2 Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers, set to work and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as written in the law of Moses the man of God.
3 They put the altar back on its foundations, because fear of the peoples of the lands was on them, and offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, the morning and evening burnt offerings.
4 They celebrated the Feast of Booths as written and offered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by the regulation for each day.
5 After that they offered the regular burnt offering, the offerings for the new moons and for all the LORD's sacred appointed feasts, and the offerings of everyone who brought a freewill offering to the LORD.
6 They began offering burnt offerings to the LORD on the first day of the seventh month, though the foundation of the LORD's temple had not yet been laid.
7 They paid money to the stonecutters and carpenters, and gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as Cyrus king of Persia had authorized.
8 In the second month of the second year after they arrived at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak started the work, together with the rest of their brothers, the priests and Levites, and all who had returned from captivity to Jerusalem. They appointed Levites twenty years old and over to supervise the work on the house of the LORD.
9 Jeshua with his sons and brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, stood together to supervise those working on God's house, with the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers, the Levites.
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the LORD's temple, the priests in their robes were stationed with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD as David king of Israel had directed.
11 They sang responsively, praising and thanking the LORD: "For he is good; his steadfast love for Israel lasts forever." And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.
12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and heads of fathers' houses, who had seen the first house, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this house laid, while many others shouted for joy at the top of their voices.
13 No one could tell the sound of the joyful shouting from the sound of the people's weeping, because the people were shouting so loudly; and the noise could be heard far away.