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 3:12
3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders 2 – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established 3 – were weeping loudly, 4 and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout.
Ezra 5:16
5:16 Then this Sheshbazzar went and laid the foundations of the temple of God in Jerusalem. From that time to the present moment 5 it has been in the process of being rebuilt, although it is not yet finished.’
1 tn Or “the foundation of the LORD’s temple was not yet laid.
2 tnHeb “the heads of the fathers.”
3 sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.