6:1 So Darius the king issued orders, and they searched in the archives¹ of the treasury which were deposited there in Babylon. 6:2 A scroll was found in the citadel² of Ecbatana which is in the province of Media, and it was inscribed as follows.

“Memorandum: 6:3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be raised. Its height is to be sixty cubits, and its width sixty³ cubits, 6:4 with three layers of large stones and one layer of timber. The expense is to be subsidized⁴ by the royal treasury.⁵ 6:5 Furthermore, let the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God which Nebuchadnezzar brought from the temple which was in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon be returned and brought to their proper place in the temple which is in Jerusalem. Let them be deposited in the temple of God.’

6:6 “Now Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shetar Bozenai, and their colleagues, the officials of the Trans-Euphrates—all of you stay far away from there. 6:7 Leave the work on this temple of God alone.⁶ Let the governor of Judah and the elders of Judah rebuild this temple of God in its proper place.

6:8 “I also hereby issue orders as to what you are to do with those elders of the Jews in order to rebuild this temple of God. From the royal treasury, from the taxes of Trans-Euphrates the complete costs will be given to these men, so that there may be no halt. 6:9 Whatever is needed—whether oxen or rams or lambs or burnt offerings for the God of heaven or wheat or salt or wine or oil, as required by⁷ the priests who are in Jerusalem—let be given to them daily without any neglect, 6:10 so that they may be offering incense to the God of heaven and praying for the good-fortune of the king and his family. 6:11 I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled on it, and his house is to be reduced to a rubbish heap for this indiscretion.⁸ 6:12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or people who reaches out⁹ to cause such change or to destroy this temple of God which is in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given orders. Let them be carried out with precision!”

6:13 Then Tattenai governor of the Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues acted accordingly with precision, just as Darius the king had given instructions.¹⁰ 6:14 The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time¹¹ Haggai the prophet and Zachariah the son of Iddo continued prophesying. They built and brought to completion by the command of the God of Israel and by the command of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 6:15 They finished this temple on the third day of the month Adar, which is the sixth¹² year of the reign of Darius the king.

6:16 The people¹³ of Israel—the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles¹⁴—observed the dedication of this temple of God with joy. 6:17 For the dedication of this temple of God they offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 6:18 They appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their divisions over the worship of God at Jerusalem, in accord with the book of Moses. 6:19¹⁵ The exiles observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6:20 The priests and the Levites had purified themselves, and they all were pure. They sacrificed the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. 6:21 The Israelites who were returning from the exile ate it, and everyone who had separated himself from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to seek the LORD God of Israel. 6:22 They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the LORD had given them joy and had changed the thinking¹⁶ of the king of Assyria toward them, so that he assisted¹⁷ them in the work on the temple of God, the God of Israel.