14. With great success the Jewish leaders continued working on the temple, while Haggai and Zechariah encouraged them by their preaching. And so, the temple was completed at the command of the God of Israel and by the orders of kings Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes of Persia.
15. On the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the rule of Darius, the temple was finished.
16. The people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and everyone else who had returned from exile were happy and celebrated as they dedicated God's temple.
17. One hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs were offered as sacrifices at the dedication. Also twelve goats were sacrificed as sin offerings for the twelve tribes of Israel.
18. Then the priests and Levites were assigned their duties in God's temple in Jerusalem, according to the instructions Moses had written.
19. Everyone who had returned from exile celebrated Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.