The Decree of Darius
Thus King Darius ordered a search of the archives stored in the treasury of Babylon. Ezr 5:17Ezr 4:15Pro 25:2Ezk 2:9Ezr 4:19Jer 36:2-4Jer 36:20-23Jer 36:29 And a scroll was found in the fortress of Ecbatana, in the province of Media, with the following written on it: 2Ki 17:6
Memorandum:
In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: 2Ch 36:22Rev 21:161Ki 6:2-32Ch 2:62Ch 3:3-4Deu 12:5-6Ezk 41:13-15Ezr 5:13-15
Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, 1 with three layers of cut stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid from the royal treasury. 1Ki 6:36Psa 68:29Ezr 7:20-23Isa 49:23Isa 60:6-10Psa 72:10Rev 12:16
Furthermore, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, must also be returned to the temple in Jerusalem and deposited in the house of God. Dan 5:2Ezr 5:142Ch 36:6-72Ki 25:14-15Jer 27:162Ch 36:102Ki 24:13Jer 27:18-22
Therefore Darius decreed: Ezr 5:3Pro 21:30Rom 8:31Act 4:26-28Ezr 5:6Gen 32:28Gen 43:14Isa 27:8
To Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates, 2 Shethar-bozenai, and your associates and officials in the region:
You must stay away from that place! Leave this work on the house of God alone. Let the governor and elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its original site. Act 5:38-39
I hereby decree what you must do for these elders of the Jews who are rebuilding this house of God: Ezr 6:4Ezr 7:15-22Hag 2:8Ezr 4:16Ezr 4:20-21Ezr 4:23Ezr 5:5Psa 68:29-31
The cost is to be paid in full to these men from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces west of the Euphrates, so that the work will not be hindered. Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, as well as wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given to them daily without fail. Lev 1:10Psa 50:9-131Ch 9:29Exo 29:38-42Isa 49:23Lev 1:3-5Lev 2:1-16Lev 9:2 Then they will be able to offer sacrifices of a sweet aroma to the God of heaven and to pray for the lives of the king and his sons. 1Ti 2:1-2Ezr 7:23Jer 29:7Eph 5:2Gen 8:21Lev 1:13Lev 1:9
I also decree that if any man interferes with this directive, a beam is to be torn from his house and raised up, and he is to be impaled on it. And his own house shall be made a pile of rubble for this offense. 3 Dan 3:29Ezr 7:26Dan 2:52Ki 10:272Ki 9:37Est 5:4Est 7:10 May God, who has caused His Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to alter this decree or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. 1Ki 9:3Deu 12:5Deu 12:11Exo 20:242Ch 7:16Act 5:38-39Act 9:5Deu 16:2
I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out with diligence.
The Temple Completed
In response, Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates diligently carried out what King Darius had decreed. Ezr 4:9Est 6:11Ezr 4:23Ezr 5:6Ezr 6:6Job 5:12-13Pro 29:26 So the Jewish elders built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. Ezr 7:1Ezr 4:24Ezr 5:13Ezr 1:1-4Ezr 6:12-13Ezr 3:8Ezr 4:3Hag 1:12-14
They finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. And this temple was completed on the third day of the month of Adar, 4 in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. Est 3:7Est 9:21Est 3:13Est 8:12Est 9:1Est 9:15Est 9:17Est 9:19
Dedication of the Temple
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. 2Ch 7:51Ki 8:63Php 4:4Ezr 6:22Jhn 10:22Psa 122:11Ch 15:281Ch 9:2
For the dedication of the house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and a sin offering for all Israel of twelve male goats, one for each tribe of Israel. Ezr 8:352Ch 29:21-23Rev 7:4-82Ch 29:31-352Ch 7:51Ch 16:1-31Ki 18:311Ki 8:63-64
They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses. Num 3:61Ch 24:12Ch 35:4-51Ch 23:1-26Num 8:9-26
The Returned Exiles Keep the Passover
On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles kept the Passover. Exo 12:6-362Ch 30:1-27Jos 5:10 All the priests and Levites had purified themselves and were ceremonially clean. 2Ch 35:112Ch 29:34Heb 7:272Ch 30:15-17Exo 12:21
And the Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their priestly brothers, and for themselves. The Israelites who had returned from exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the peoples 5of the land to seek the LORD, the God of Israel. Ezr 9:112Co 7:1Isa 52:11Exo 12:47-49Ezk 36:25Ezr 9:1Neh 9:22Co 6:17
For seven days they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread 6with joy, because the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands in the work on the house of the God of Israel. 2Ch 30:21Ezr 1:1Pro 21:12Ch 35:17Ezr 7:27Pro 16:7Exo 12:15-20Exo 13:6-7