Ezra 3:6

3:6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. However, the Lord’s temple was not at that time established. ¹ 

Ezra 3:10-12

3:10 When the builders established the Lord’s temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions, ²  and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the Lord according to the instructions left by ³  King David of Israel. ⁴  3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ⁵  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ⁶  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established. 3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ⁷  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ⁸  – were weeping loudly, ⁹  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout.

¹ tn Or “the foundation of the LORD’s temple was not yet laid.

² sn This was a long, straight, metallic instrument used for signal calls, rather than the traditional ram’s horn (both instruments are typically translated “trumpet” by English versions).

³ tn Heb “according to the hands of.”

⁴ sn See Ps 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1. Cf. 2 Chr 5:13; 7:3; 20:21.

³ tn Heb “they answered.”

⁴ tn Heb “great.”

⁴ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

⁵ sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

⁶ tn Heb “with a great voice.”