1 So King Darius issued a decree, and a search was made in the archives in Babylon, where the treasures were kept.
2 A scroll was found at Ecbatana, in the fortress in the province of Media, and this was written in it: "Memorandum:
3 In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree about the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its foundations be retained. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide,
4 with three layers of large stones and one layer of new timber. The expenses are to be paid by the royal treasury.
5 Also the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, are to be given back and returned to the temple in Jerusalem, each to its place; you are to put them in the house of God."
6 "Therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues the Apharsachites in the province Beyond the River, stay away from there.
7 Do not interfere with the work on this house of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.
8 And I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in rebuilding this house of God: their expenses are to be paid promptly and in full from the royal revenue, out of the taxes of the province Beyond the River, so that the work does not stop.
9 Whatever they need, young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem, must be given to them every day without fail,
10 so that they can offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.
11 I further decree that if anyone changes this order, a beam is to be pulled from his house, and he is to be raised up and fastened on it, and his house is to be made a rubbish heap because of this.
12 May the God who has made his name dwell there overthrow any king or people who reaches out a hand to change this or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree; let it be carried out diligently."
13 Then Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues carried out diligently what King Darius had ordered.
14 So the elders of the Jews went on building and made progress through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building by the command of the God of Israel and by the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
15 This house was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of King Darius's reign.
16 Then the children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, joyfully celebrated the dedication of this house of God.
17 For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel twelve male goats, one for each tribe of Israel.
18 And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God in Jerusalem, as written in the book of Moses.
19 The returned exiles celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
20 The priests and Levites had purified themselves as one man; all of them were clean. They slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.
21 It was eaten by the children of Israel who had come back from exile and by all who had separated themselves from the defilement of the nations of the land to join them in seeking the LORD God of Israel.
22 For seven days they joyfully celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because the LORD had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria toward them, so that he supported them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.