1 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon.2 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it: Memorandum:3 In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be ninety feet high and ninety feet wide,4 with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury.5 Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.6 Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you, their fellow officials of that province, stay away from there.7 Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.8 Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God: The expenses of these men are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop.9 Whatever is needed-young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem-must be given them daily without fail,10 so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.11 Furthermore, I decree that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled from his house and he is to be lifted up and impaled on it. And for this crime his house is to be made a pile of rubble.12 May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem. I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.13 Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence.14 So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.15 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.16 Then the people of Israel-the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles-celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.17 For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel.18 And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.19 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover.20 The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their brothers the priests and for themselves.21 So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the LORD, the God of Israel.22 For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because the LORD had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria, so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

1 Tunc Darius rex prcepit : et recensuerunt in bibliotheca librorum, qui erant repositi in Babylone. 2 Et inventum est in Ecbatanis, quod est castrum in Medena provincia, volumen unum : talisque scriptus erat in eo commentarius : 3 Anno primo Cyri regis, Cyrus rex decrevit ut domus Dei dificaretur, qu est in Jerusalem, in loco ubi immolent hostias, et ut ponant fundamenta supportantia altitudinem cubitorum sexaginta, et latitudinem cubitorum sexaginta, 4 ordines de lapidibus impolitis tres, et sic ordines de lignis novis : sumptus autem de domo regis dabuntur. 5 Sed et vasa templi Dei aurea et argentea, qu Nabuchodonosor tulerat de templo Jerusalem, et attulerat ea in Babylonem, reddantur, et referantur in templum in Jerusalem in locum suum, qu et posita sunt in templo Dei. 6 Nunc ergo Thathanai dux regionis, qu est trans flumen, Stharbuzanai, et consiliarii vestri Apharsachi, qui estis trans flumen, procul recedite ab illis, 7 et dimittite fieri templum Dei illud a duce Judorum, et a senioribus eorum, ut domum Dei illam dificent in loco suo. 8 Sed et a me prceptum est quid oporteat fieri a presbyteris Judorum illis ut dificetur domus Dei, scilicet ut de arca regis, id est, de tributis qu dantur de regione trans flumen, studiose sumptus dentur viris illis, ne impediatur opus. 9 Quod si necesse fuerit, et vitulos, et agnos, et hdos in holocaustum Deo cli, frumentum, sal, vinum, et oleum, secundum ritum sacerdotum, qui sunt in Jerusalem, detur eis per singulos dies, ne sit in aliquo querimonia. 10 Et offerant oblationes Deo cli, orentque pro vita regis, et filiorum ejus. 11 A me ergo positum est decretum : ut omnis homo qui hanc mutaverit jussionem, tollatur lignum de domum ipsius, et erigatur, et configatur in eo, domus autem ejus publicetur. 12 Deus autem, qui habitare fecit nomen suum ibi, dissipet omnia regna, et populum qui extenderit manum suam ut repugnet, et dissipet domum Dei illam, qu est in Jerusalem. Ego Darius statui decretum, quod studiose impleri volo.13 Igitur Thathanai dux regionis trans flumen, et Stharbuzanai, et consiliarii ejus, secundum quod prceperat Darius rex, sic diligenter executi sunt. 14 Seniores autem Judorum dificabant, et prosperabantur juxta prophetiam Aggi prophet, et Zachari filii Addo : et dificaverunt et construxerunt, jubente Deo Isral, et jubente Cyro, et Dario, et Artaxerxe regibus Persarum : 15 et compleverunt domum Dei istam, usque ad diem tertium mensis Adar, qui est annus sextus regni Darii regis. 16 Fecerunt autem filii Isral sacerdotes et Levit, et reliqui filiorum transmigrationis, dedicationem domus Dei in gaudio. 17 Et obtulerunt in dedicationem domus Dei, vitulos centum, arietes ducentos, agnos quadringentos, hircos caprarum pro peccato totius Isral duodecim, juxta numerum tribuum Isral. 18 Et statuerunt sacerdotes in ordinibus suis, et Levitas in vicibus suis, super opera Dei in Jerusalem, sicut scriptum est in libro Moysi.19 Fecerunt autem filii Isral transmigrationis Pascha, quartadecima die mensis primi. 20 Purificati enim fuerant sacerdotes et Levit quasi unus : omnes mundi ad immolandum Pascha universis filiis transmigrationis, et fratribus suis sacerdotibus, et sibi. 21 Et comederunt filii Isral, qui reversi fuerant de transmigratione, et omnes qui se separaverant a coinquinatione gentium terr ad eos, ut qurerent Dominum Deum Isral. 22 Et fecerunt solemnitatem azymorum septem diebus in ltitia, quoniam ltificaverat eos Dominus, et converterat cor regis Assur ad eos, ut adjuvaret manus eorum in opere domus Domini Dei Isral.