And certain of the chief fathers, when they came to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, they offered willingly unto the house of God, that it should be set in his place;

And when the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were now in their cities, the people came together, even as one man, unto Jerusalem.

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their array, with trumpets, and the Levites, the children of Asaph, with cymbals; to praise the LORD, after the manner of David, king of Israel.

Many also of the old priests and Levites and ancient fathers which had seen the first house - when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes - wept with a loud voice. And many shouted with joy,

But when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel,

But when Ahasuerus was king, even in the beginning of his reign, they wrote unto him a complaint against the inhabiters of Judah and Jerusalem.

Now when king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe and their counsel, they went up in all the haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and forbade them with violence and power.

And I gathered them together by the water that runneth toward Ahava, and there abode we three days. And when I looked among the people and the priests, I found no Levites there.

When I heard this, I rent my clothes and my raiment, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat mourning.

And when Ezra prayed after this manner, and knowledged, wept, and lay before the house of God, there resorted unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: For the people wept very sore.

And Ezra stood up before the house of God, and went in to the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib. And when he came thither, he ate no bread, nor drank water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been in captivity.