Darius Decrees the Work Continue
6 1 Then King Darius decreed a search of Babylon's archive house, where the treasures were stored. 2 A scroll was found at Ecbatana, in the fortress in Media's province, with this record written in it:
3 In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a decree: the house of God in Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, a place for sacrifices, its foundations retained, ninety feet high and ninety feet wide, 4 Three layers of large stones and one of timber; pay the cost from the king's treasury. 5 Also, return the gold and silver vessels of God's house that Nebuchadnezzar took from the Jerusalem temple and brought to Babylon—bring them back to the Jerusalem temple, each to its place, and put them in God's house.
6 Now then, Tattenai governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your fellow officials there — stay far from that place. 7 Leave the work on this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. 8 I decree this for these Jewish elders rebuilding God's house: pay their full costs from the royal treasury, from the taxes of the province Beyond the River, so the work does not stop. 9 Give the priests in Jerusalem whatever they need daily, without fail: young bulls, rams, lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, oil. 10 to offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven, and pray for the king and his sons' life. 11 I also decree: whoever alters this edict, a beam is torn from his house, he is raised up and impaled on it, and his house is turned into a rubble heap for it. 12 May the God who settled his name there overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this order or destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, issue this order — let it be done promptly.
The Father's House Is Finished
13 Then Tattenai, governor of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues did exactly as King Darius had ordered, promptly. 14 The elders of the Jews kept building and prospering through the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building by command of our Father, the God of Israel, and by decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 This house was finished on the third of Adar, in the sixth year of King Darius's reign. a a v15 Adar is the final month of the Jewish calendar, roughly equivalent to February–March.
16 Then Israel's people — priests, Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles — celebrated the dedication of this house of our Father with joy. 17 For the dedication of this house of our Father they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering for all Israel, one per tribe. 18 They installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions for our Father's service in Jerusalem, as written in the book of Moses.
The Exiles Keep the Passover
19 The returned exiles kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 20 Priests and Levites had purified themselves together, all clean, and killed the Passover lamb for all returned exiles, their brother priests, and themselves. 21 Israelites returned from exile ate it, with all who had separated themselves from the impurity of the land's nations to seek our Father, the God of Israel. 22 They kept the Feast of Bread Without Yeast seven days with joy, for our Father had filled them with joy and turned the Assyrian king's heart toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of our Father, the God of Israel. b b v22 The Persian king is called 'king of Assyria' because Persia had absorbed the former Assyrian Empire.
