Ezra 3:2-8

3:2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak ¹  and his priestly colleagues ²  and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his colleagues ³  started to build ⁴  the altar of the God of Israel so they could offer burnt offerings on it as required by ⁵  the law of Moses the man of God. 3:3 They established the altar on its foundations, even though they were in terror of the local peoples, ⁶  and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and the evening offerings. 3:4 They observed the Festival of Temporary Shelters ⁷  as required ⁸  and offered the proper number of ⁹  daily burnt offerings according to the requirement for each day. 3:5 Afterward they offered the continual burnt offerings and those for the new moons and those for all the holy assemblies of the Lord and all those that were being voluntarily offered to the Lord. 3:6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. However, the Lord’s temple was not at that time established. ¹⁰ 

Preparations for Rebuilding the Temple

3:7 So they provided money ¹¹  for the masons and carpenters, and food, beverages, and olive oil for the people of Sidon ¹²  and Tyre, ¹³  so that they would bring cedar timber from Lebanon to the seaport ¹⁴  at Joppa, in accord with the edict of King Cyrus of Persia. 3:8 In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, ¹⁵  in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work, ¹⁶  along with the rest of their associates, ¹⁷  the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed ¹⁸  the Levites who were at least twenty years old ¹⁹  to take charge of the work on the Lord’s temple.

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¹ sn Jozadak (also in 3:8) is a variant spelling of Jehozadak.

² tn Heb “his brothers the priests.”

³ tn Heb “his brothers.”

⁴ tn Heb “arose and built.”

⁵ tn Heb “written in.” Cf. v. 4.

⁶ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

⁷ tn The Hebrew phrase אֶת חַג־הַסֻּכּוֹת (’et khag-hassukot, “festival of huts” [or “shelters”]) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. The rendering “booths” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV) is probably better than the traditional “tabernacles” in light of the meaning of the term סֻכָּה (sukkah, “hut; booth”), but “booths” are frequently associated with trade shows and craft fairs in contemporary American English. The nature of the celebration during this feast as a commemoration of the wanderings of the Israelites after they left Egypt suggests that a translation like “temporary shelters” is more appropriate.

⁸ tn Heb “according to what is written.”

⁹ tn Heb “by number.”

¹⁰ tn Or “the foundation of the LORD’s temple was not yet laid.

¹¹ tn Heb “silver.”

¹² map For location see Map1-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

¹³ map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

¹⁴ tn Heb “to the sea”

¹⁵ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁶ tn Heb “began”; the phrase “the work” is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

¹⁷ tn Heb “their brothers.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “stood.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “from twenty years and upward.”