Discovery BoxEzra 3:10-13 
Context3:10 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.
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
8 tn Heb “with a great voice.”
9 tn Heb “a great shout.”
