The Building Begun: “The Foundation of the Temple Was Laid”
1-2 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled into their towns, the people assembled together in Jerusalem. Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brother priests, along with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his relatives, went to work and built the Altar of the God of Israel to offer Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it as written in The Revelation of Moses the man of God.
3-5 Even though they were afraid of what their non-Israelite neighbors might do, they went ahead anyway and set up the Altar on its foundations and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it morning and evening. They also celebrated the Festival of Booths as prescribed and the daily Whole-Burnt-Offerings set for each day. And they presented the regular Whole-Burnt-Offerings for Sabbaths, New Moons, andGod’s Holy Festivals, as well as Freewill-Offerings forGod.
6 They began offering Whole-Burnt-Offerings toGodfrom the very first day of the seventh month, even though The Temple ofGod’s foundation had not yet been laid.
7 They gave money to hire masons and carpenters. They gave food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians in exchange for the cedar lumber they had brought by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, a shipment authorized by Cyrus the king of Persia.
8-9 In the second month of the second year after their arrival at The Temple of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jozadak, in company with their brother priests and Levites and everyone else who had come back to Jerusalem from captivity, got started. They appointed the Levites twenty years of age and older to direct the rebuilding of The Temple ofGod. Jeshua and his family joined Kadmiel, Binnui, and Hodaviah, along with the extended family of Henadad—all Levites—to direct the work crew on The Temple of God.
10-11 When the workers laid the foundation of The Temple ofGod, the priests in their robes stood up with trumpets, and the Levites, sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praiseGodin the tradition of David king of Israel. They sang antiphonally praise and thanksgiving toGod:
Yes!Godis good!
Oh yes—he’ll never quit loving Israel!
11-13 All the people boomed out hurrahs, praisingGodas the foundation of The Temple ofGodwas laid. As many were noisily shouting with joy, many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first Temple, when they saw the foundations of this Temple laid, wept loudly for joy. People couldn’t distinguish the shouting from the weeping. The sound of their voices reverberated for miles around.
—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/EZR/3-e9a08855da8d5a6e1cb67f41b2ec08a1.mp3?version_id=97—