1Then King Darius issued an order, and a search was made in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon.
2A scroll was found at Achmetha, in the palace in the province of Media, and this was written in it as a record:
3“In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a decree: Regarding God’s temple in Jerusalem, let the temple be rebuilt, the place where they offer sacrifices. Let its foundations be strongly laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide,
4with three layers of large stones and one layer of new timber. The expenses are to be paid from the king’s treasury.”
5Also, the gold and silver items from God’s temple, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, must be returned. They must be brought back to the temple in Jerusalem, each item to its proper place. You must put them in God’s temple.
6Therefore, Tattenai, governor of the region beyond the Euphrates River, Shethar-Bozenai, and your colleagues, the Apharsachites who are beyond the River, you must stay away from that place.
7Leave the work on this house of God alone. Let the Jewish governor and the Jewish elders build this house of God in its original location.
8Furthermore, I issue a decree about what you must do for these Jewish elders to help them build this house of God: From the king’s funds, specifically from the taxes collected from the region beyond the River, the expenses must be given to these men diligently, so they are not hindered.
9Whatever they need—including young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, as well as wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the instructions of the priests in Jerusalem—it must be provided to them day by day without fail.
10This is so they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.
11I have also decreed that if anyone changes this order, a beam is to be pulled from his house, and he is to be lifted up and impaled on it. And his house shall be turned into a pile of refuse because of this.
12May the God who caused his name to reside there overthrow any king or people who try to change this order or destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree. Let it be carried out with complete diligence.”
13So, Tattenai, the governor of the region beyond the Euphrates River, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues carried out the decree with complete diligence, just as King Darius had ordered.
14The Jewish elders built and prospered, encouraged by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of King Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes of Persia.
15This temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of King Darius’s reign.
16The people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the people who had returned from exile joyfully celebrated the dedication of this house of God.
17For the dedication of this house of God, they offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, and 400 lambs. For a sin offering for all Israel, they offered 12 male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel.
18They assigned the priests to their divisions and the Levites to their groups for the service of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.
19The people who had returned from exile celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
20Since the priests and Levites had all purified themselves, everyone was clean. They sacrificed the Passover lambs for all the people who had returned from exile, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.
21The people of Israel who had returned from exile, and everyone else who had separated themselves from the impure practices of the surrounding nations to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, ate the Passover meal.
22They joyfully celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days, because Yahweh had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, strengthening their efforts in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.