In the eleventh year, in the month Bul ¹  (the eighth month) the temple was completed in accordance with all its specifications and blueprints. It took seven years to build. ² 

He designated ¹  70,000 as common laborers, ²  80,000 as stonecutters ³  in the hills, and 3,600 as supervisors to make sure the people completed the work. ⁴ 

Let the king also be aware that if this city is built and its walls are completed, no more tax, custom, or toll will be paid, and the royal treasury ¹  will suffer loss.

We therefore are informing the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, you will not retain control ¹  of this portion of Trans-Euphrates.”

They responded to us in the following way: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king ¹  of Israel built it and completed it.

“Speak kindly to ¹  Jerusalem, ²  and tell her that her time of warfare is over, ³  that her punishment is completed. ⁴  For the Lord has made her pay double ⁵  for all her sins.”

“When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days ¹  – I have assigned one day for each year.

But in the days ¹  when the seventh angel is about to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God is completed, ²  just as he has ³  proclaimed to his servants ⁴  the prophets.”

Then ¹  I saw another great and astounding sign in heaven: seven angels who have seven final plagues ²  (they are final because in them God’s anger is completed).

and the temple was filled with smoke from God’s glory and from his power. Thus ¹  no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues from the seven angels were completed.

“‘When ¹  the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she must bring a one year old lamb ²  for a burnt offering ³  and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering ⁴  to the entrance of the Meeting Tent, to the priest.

Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents ¹  who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

When those days ¹  were completed, the king then provided a seven-day ²  banquet for all the people who were present ³  in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly. ⁴  It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace.

Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them.

“Then the king ¹  will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every deity and he will utter presumptuous things against the God of gods. He will succeed until the time of ²  wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must occur. ³