65. All those who had returned from exile then offered sacrifices to the Lord, the God of Israel. They offered twelve bulls for all Israel, 96 rams,
66. and 72 lambs; they also offered twelve goats as a fellowship offering. They sacrificed all these animals to the Lord.
67. Then they took the decree the emperor had given them and gave it to the governors and officials of Greater Syria and Phoenicia, who then honoured the Jewish people and the Temple of the Lord.
68. After all this had been done, some of the leaders of the people of Israel came and told me that
69. the people, the leaders, the priests, and the Levites had not kept themselves separate from the people in the neighbouring countries of Edom, Moab, and Egypt, or from the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites. They were doing the same disgusting things that those people did.