Ezra 3:6-8

Expanded Bible

⁶ On the first day of the seventh month [^Cfifteen days before the beginning of the festival] they began to ·bring [offer; sacrifice] burnt offerings to the Lord, ·but [though] the foundation of the Lord’s ·Temple [^Lhouse] had not yet been laid.

Rebuilding the Temple

⁷ Then they gave money to the ·bricklayers [masons] and carpenters. They also gave food, ·wine [drink], and olive oil to the cities of Sidon and Tyre so they would ·float [bring] cedar logs from Lebanon to the seacoast town of Joppa. Cyrus king of Persia had given permission for this.

⁸ In the second month [^Cmidspring] of the second year after their arrival at the ·Temple [^Lhouse] of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel [v. 2], Jeshua son of Jozadak, their fellow priests and Levites, and all who had returned from ·captivity [exile] to Jerusalem began to work. They ·chose [appointed] Levites twenty years old and older to ·be in charge of [supervise] the building of the ·Temple [^Lhouse] of the Lord.