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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Ezra 3 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ezra/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ezra/3-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Ezra 3</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ezra/2.htm" title="Ezra 2">◄</a> Ezra 3 <a href="../ezra/4.htm" title="Ezra 4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">The First Offering on the New Altar</h3><p class="par"><span class="v15_3_1"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.1" class="v15_3_1">1</span>During the seventh month<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.1!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> of the year, the Israelites who had settled in their towns went to Jerusalem. </span><span class="v15_3_2"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.2" class="v15_3_2">2</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.2!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The priest Joshua son of Jozadak, together with the other priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his relatives rebuilt the altar of Israel's God. Then they were able to offer sacrifices there by following the instructions God had given to Moses, the man of God. </span><span class="v15_3_3"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.3" class="v15_3_3">3</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.3!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> And they built the altar where it had stood before,<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.3!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> even though they were afraid of the people who were already living around there. Then every morning and evening they burned sacrifices and offerings to the <span class="nd">Lord</span>.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v15_3_4"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.4" class="v15_3_4">4</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.4!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The people followed the rules for celebrating the Festival of Shelters and offered the proper sacrifices each day. </span><span class="v15_3_5"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.5" class="v15_3_5">5</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.5!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> They offered sacrifices to please the <span class="nd">Lord</span>,<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.5!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> sacrifices at each New Moon Festival, and sacrifices at the rest of the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s festivals. Every offering the people had brought voluntarily was also presented to the <span class="nd">Lord</span>.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v15_3_6"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.6" class="v15_3_6">6</span>Although work on the temple itself had not yet begun, the people started offering sacrifices on the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s altar on the first day of the seventh month of that year.</span></p><h3 class="s1">The Rebuilding of the Temple Begins</h3><p class="par"><span class="v15_3_7"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.7" class="v15_3_7">7</span>King Cyrus of Persia had said the Israelites could have cedar trees brought from Lebanon to Joppa by sea. So they sent grain, wine, and olive oil to the cities of Tyre and Sidon as payment for these trees, and they gave money to the stoneworkers and carpenters.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v15_3_8"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.8" class="v15_3_8">8</span>During the second month<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.8!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> of the second year after the people had returned from Babylonia, they started rebuilding the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s temple. Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the priests, the Levites, and everyone else who had returned started working. Every Levite over 20 years of age was put in charge of some part of the work. </span><span class="v15_3_9"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.9" class="v15_3_9">9</span>The Levites in charge of the whole project were Joshua and his sons and relatives and Kadmiel and his sons from the family of Hodaviah.<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.9!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> The family of Henadad worked along with them.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v15_3_10"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.10" class="v15_3_10">10</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.10!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> When the builders had finished laying the foundation of the temple, the priests put on their robes and blew trumpets in honor of the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, while the Levites from the family of Asaph praised God with cymbals. All of them followed the instructions given years before by King David.<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.10!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v15_3_11"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.11" class="v15_3_11">11</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.11!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> They praised the <span class="nd">Lord</span> and gave thanks as they took turns singing:</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v15_3_11">“The <span class="nd">Lord</span> is good!</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v15_3_11">His faithful love for Israel</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v15_3_11">will last forever.”</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="par"><span class="v15_3_11">Everyone started shouting and praising the <span class="nd">Lord</span> because work on the foundation of the temple had begun. </span><span class="v15_3_12"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.12" class="v15_3_12">12</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.3.12!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Many of the older priests and Levites and the heads of families wept bitterly because they remembered seeing the first temple years before. But others were so happy that they celebrated with joyful shouts. </span><span class="v15_3_13"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.3.13" class="v15_3_13">13</span>Their shouting and crying were so noisy that it all sounded alike and could be heard a long way off.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">3.1 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">seventh month: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Tishri (also called Ethanim), the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-September to mid-October.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">3.3 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">where it had stood before: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">3.5 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">sacrifices to please the <char style="nd">Lord</char>: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">In traditional translations these sacrifices are usually called “whole burnt offerings” (see Leviticus 1.1-16).</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">3.8 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">second month: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Ziv, the second month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-April to mid-May.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">3.9 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Hodaviah: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “Yehudah” or “Hodiah.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">3.10 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">King David: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Ruled from about 1010 to 970 <char style="sc">b.c.</char></char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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