10. so that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.
11. “Furthermore, I decree that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and impaled on it, and because of this, his house be made a pile of refuse.
12. May God, who makes His name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts his hand to cause such change to destroy this House of God in Jerusalem. I Darius have issued a decree; let it be carried out with diligence.”
13. Then Tattenai the governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates diligently carried it out, just as King Darius had sent.
14. So the elders of the Jews continued building and prospering through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and according to the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.
15. The Temple was completed on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
16. Then the sons of Israel—the kohanim, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles— celebrated the dedication of the House of God with joy.