Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 118
106
IMMERSE
•
CHRONICLES
2:70–3:11
total of their gifts came to 61,000 gold coins, 6,250 pounds of silver, and
100 robes for the priests.
So the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, the Temple servants, and some of the common people settled in villages near Jerusalem.
The rest of the people returned to their own towns throughout Israel.
In early autumn, when the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the
people assembled in Jerusalem with a unified purpose. Then Jeshua son
of Jehozadak joined his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel with
his family in rebuilding the altar of the God of Israel. They wanted to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as instructed in the Law of Moses, the man
of God. Even though the people were afraid of the local residents, they
rebuilt the altar at its old site. Then they began to sacrifice burnt offerings
on the altar to the Lord each morning and evening.
They celebrated the Festival of Shelters as prescribed in the Law, sacrificing the number of burnt offerings specified for each day of the festival.
They also offered the regular burnt offerings and the offerings required for
the new moon celebrations and the annual festivals as prescribed by the
Lord. The people also gave voluntary offerings to the Lord. Fifteen days
before the Festival of Shelters began, the priests had begun to sacrifice
burnt offerings to the Lord. This was even before they had started to lay
the foundation of the Lord’s Temple.
Then the people hired masons and carpenters and bought cedar logs from
the people of Tyre and Sidon, paying them with food, wine, and olive
oil. The logs were brought down from the Lebanon mountains and floated
along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to Joppa, for King Cyrus had
given permission for this.
The construction of the Temple of God began in midspring, during the
second year after they arrived in Jerusalem. The work force was made up
of everyone who had returned from exile, including Zerubbabel son of
Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his fellow priests, and all the Levites. The Levites who were twenty years old or older were put in charge
of rebuilding the Lord’s Temple. The workers at the Temple of God were
supervised by Jeshua with his sons and relatives, and Kadmiel and his sons,
all descendants of Hodaviah. They were helped in this task by the Levites
of the family of Henadad.
When the builders completed the foundation of the Lord’s Temple,
the priests put on their robes and took their places to blow their trumpets.
And the Levites, descendants of Asaph, clashed their cymbals to praise the
Lord, just as King David had prescribed. With praise and thanks, they
sang this song to the Lord:
ImmerseChronicles_NLT.indd 106
6/21/2017 10:01:36 AM
