Ezra 3 Berean Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 By the seventh month, the Israelites had settled in their towns, and the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.
1 When the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
2 Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests, along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates, began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.
2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his relatives, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
3 They set up the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD—both the morning and evening burnt offerings—even though they feared the people of the land.
3 In spite of their fear because of the peoples of the surrounding lands, they set the altar on its base; and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
4 They also celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles in accordance with what is written, and they offered burnt offerings daily based on the number prescribed for each day.
4 They kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;
5 After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings and those for New Moons and for all the appointed sacred feasts of the LORD, as well as all the freewill offerings brought to the LORD.
5 and afterward the continual burnt offering, the offerings of the new moons, of all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a free will offering to Yahweh.
6 On the first day of the seventh month, the Israelites began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, although the foundation of the temple of the LORD had not been laid.
6 From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh; but the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was not yet laid.
7 They gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to Joppa by sea, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.
7 They also gave money to the masons and to the carpenters. They also gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus King of Persia.
8 In the second month of the second year after they had arrived at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their associates including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years of age or older to supervise the construction of the house of the LORD.
8 Now in the second year of their coming to God’s house at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of Yahweh’s house.
9 So Jeshua and his sons and brothers, Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Yehudah), and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers—all Levites—joined together to supervise those working on the house of God.
9 Then Jeshua stood with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together to have the oversight of the workmen in God’s house: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites.
10 When the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their positions to praise the LORD, as David king of Israel had prescribed.
10 When the builders laid the foundation of Yahweh’s temple, they set the priests in their vestments with trumpets, with the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Yahweh, according to the directions of David king of Israel.
11 And they sang responsively with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: “For He is good; for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.
11 They sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel.” All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of Yahweh’s house had been laid.
12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first temple wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple. Still, many others shouted joyfully.
12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. Many also shouted aloud for joy,
13 The people could not distinguish the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people were making so much noise. And the sound was heard from afar.
13 so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard far away.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Henadad
Named as the father of the Levites ("sons of Henadad") who supervised the temple work; Binnui son of Henadad helped rebuild the wall.
Cited in the guide: Ezra 3:9; Nehemiah 3:18; Nehemiah 10:9
Jeshua
Levite who returned with Zerubbabel, supervised the temple work with Kadmiel, taught the people the Law, and led the confession and blessing. The list in Neh 10:9 names a Jeshua…
Cited in the guide: Ezra 2:40; Ezra 3:9; Nehemiah 8:7
Kadmiel
Levite whose family returned and who, with Jeshua and the sons of Henadad, oversaw the temple builders; he later joined in the Levites’ prayer and the covenant.
Cited in the guide: Ezra 2:40; Ezra 3:9; Nehemiah 9:4
Shealtiel
A son of the exiled king, a link between fallen throne and hoped-for return.
Cited in the guide: 1 Chron. 3:17; Ezra 3:2; Hag. 1:1; Matt. 1:12; Luke 3:27
Zerubbabel
He led the return from Babylon and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem.
Cited in the guide: Ezra 3-6; Hag. 2:23; Zech. 4; Matt. 1:12-13
Cross references (12)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Acts 4:32; Leviticus 23:24; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Nehemiah 7:73–8:2; Acts 2:46
- 2 Luke 3:27; Haggai 1:1; Ezra 2:2; 1 Chronicles 3:17; Exodus 20:24–25
- 3 Numbers 28:2–8; Ezra 4:4; Exodus 29:38–42; 2 Chronicles 4:1; Ezra 8:21–22
- 4 Exodus 23:16; Numbers 29:12–38; Nehemiah 8:14–17; Zechariah 14:16–19; John 7:37
- 5 Numbers 29:39; Numbers 28:19; Numbers 29:8; Deuteronomy 12:17; Numbers 29:2
- 7 1 Kings 5:6; Acts 12:20; Acts 9:36; Jonah 1:3; 1 Kings 5:9–11
- 8 Ezra 4:3; 1 Chronicles 23:4; 1 Chronicles 23:24–32; Numbers 4:3
- 9 Ezra 2:40; Nehemiah 7:43; Ezra 3:8
- 10 1 Chronicles 25:1–7; Zechariah 4:10; 1 Chronicles 16:4–7; 1 Chronicles 6:31–48; 1 Chronicles 15:27
- 11 Psalm 106:1; 1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalm 107:1; Psalm 103:17; Psalm 118:1
- 12 Haggai 2:3; Jeremiah 31:8–9; Matthew 13:31–32; Isaiah 60:22; Daniel 2:34–35
- 13 Luke 19:37–40; 1 Samuel 4:5; 1 Kings 1:45; Jeremiah 33:11; Psalm 100:1–2
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences