3:1 When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites ¹  were living ²  in their ³  towns, the people assembled ⁴  in ⁵  Jerusalem. ⁶  3:2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak ⁷  and his priestly colleagues ⁸  and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his colleagues ⁹  started to build ¹⁰  the altar of the God of Israel so they could offer burnt offerings on it as required by ¹¹  the law of Moses the man of God. 3:3 They established the altar on its foundations, even though they were in terror of the local peoples, ¹²  and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and the evening offerings. 3:4 They observed the Festival of Temporary Shelters ¹³  as required ¹⁴  and offered the proper number of ¹⁵  daily burnt offerings according to the requirement for each day. 3:5 Afterward they offered the continual burnt offerings and those for the new moons and those for all the holy assemblies of the Lord and all those that were being voluntarily offered to the Lord. 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. ¹⁶ 

3:7 So they provided money ¹⁷  for the masons and carpenters, and food, beverages, and olive oil for the people of Sidon ¹⁸  and Tyre, ¹⁹  so that they would bring cedar timber from Lebanon to the seaport ²⁰  at Joppa, in accord with the edict of King Cyrus of Persia.