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 3:12

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.’

[3:6]  ¹ tn Or “the foundation of the LORD’s temple was not yet laid.

[3:12]  ² tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[3:12]  ³ sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

[3:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “with a great voice.”

[5:16]  ³ tn Aram “from then and until now.”