1 Esdras 7

1 Then Sisinnes, the governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabouzanes, and their companions, following what king Darius had decreed, [a] 2 watched over the holy works with all the more care, working alongside the elders of the Jews and the officers of the temple. [b] 3 And the holy works went forward well while Haggai and Zechariah the prophets were prophesying; 4 and they brought them to completion by the decree of the Lord God of Israel, [c] 5 and by the order of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, the holy house was finished by the twenty-third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of king Darius. [d]

6 And the children of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of those from the captivity who had been added to them, did according to what stands in the book of Moses. [e] 7 And for the dedication of the temple of the Lord they brought a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, 8 and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, by the number of the leaders of the tribes of Israel — twelve. [f] 9 And the priests and the Levites stood in their robes, tribe by tribe, over the works of the Lord God of Israel, according to the book of Moses; and the gatekeepers stood at every gateway.

10 And the children of Israel who were of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, for the priests and the Levites had been purified together. † 11 Not all the children of the captivity were purified, because the Levites were all purified together, [g] 12 and they slaughtered the Passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. 13 And the children of Israel who had come out of the captivity ate it — all who had separated themselves from the detestable things of the nations of the land — seeking the Lord.

14 And they kept the Feast of Bread Without Yeast seven days, in gladness before the Lord, 15 because he had turned the counsel of the king of the Assyrians toward them, to strengthen their hands for the works of the Lord God of Israel. [h]