Ezra 3:10-13

3:10 When the builders established the Lord’s temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions, ¹  and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the Lord according to the instructions left by ²  King David of Israel. ³  3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ⁴  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ⁵  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established. 3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ⁶  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ⁷  – were weeping loudly, ⁸  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. 3:13 People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly ⁹  that the sound was heard a long way off.

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¹ sn This was a long, straight, metallic instrument used for signal calls, rather than the traditional ram’s horn (both instruments are typically translated “trumpet” by English versions).

² tn Heb “according to the hands of.”

³ sn See Ps 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1. Cf. 2 Chr 5:13; 7:3; 20:21.

⁴ tn Heb “they answered.”

⁵ tn Heb “great.”

⁶ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

⁷ sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

⁸ tn Heb “with a great voice.”

⁹ tn Heb “a great shout.”