The Altar Rebuilt
1   And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people  gathered  themselves together  as  one man to Jerusalem.
2   Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
3   And they set the altar upon its bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
4   They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;
5   And afterward offered the continual burnt offerings, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the LORD.
6   From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.
7   They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, unto them of Sidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Rebuilding the Temple Begins
8   Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty  years  old  and upward,  to  oversee  the work of the house of the LORD.
9   Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to oversee the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites.
10   And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according  to  the  ordinance  of  David  king  of Israel.
11   And they sang together responsively in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endures forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because  the  foundation  of  the  house  of  the LORD was laid.
12   But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, who were old men, who had seen the first house, when the foundation  of  this  house was  laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:
13   So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.