and to Sathrabuzanes, sendeth
greeting. Having found a copy of this epistle among the records of
Cyrus, I have sent it you; and I will that all things be done as is
therein written. Fare ye well." So when Sisinnes, and those that were
with him, understood the intention of the king, they resolved to follow
his directions entirely for the time to come. So they forwarded the
sacred works, and assisted the elders of the Jews, and the princes of
the Sanhedrim; and the structure of the temple was with great diligence
brought to a conclusion, by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah,
according to God's commands, and by the injunctions of Cyrus and Darius
the kings. Now the temple was built in seven years' time. And in the
ninth year of the reign of Darius, on the twenty-third day of the
twelfth month, which is by us called Adar, but by the Macedonians
Dystrus, the priests, and Levites, and the other multitude of the
Israelites, offered sacrifices, as the renovation of their former
prosperity after their captivity, and because they had now the temple
rebuilt, a hundred bulls, two hundred rains, four hundred lambs, and
twelve kids of the goats, according to the number of their tribes, [for
so many are the tribes of the Israelites,] and this last for the sins of
every tribe. The priests also and the Levites set the porters at every
gate, according to the laws of Moses. The Jews also built the cloisters
of the inner temple that were round about the temple itself.

8. And as the feast of unleavened bread was at hand, in the first month,
which, according to the Macedonians, is called Xanthicus, but according
to us Nisan, all the people ran together out of the villages to the
city, and celebrated the festival, having purified themselves, with
their wives and children, according to the law of their country;
and they offered the sacrifice which was called the Passover, on the
fourteenth day of the same month, and feasted seven days, and spared
for no cost, but offered whole burnt-offerings to God, and performed
sacrifices of thanksgiving, because God had led them again to the land
of their fathers, and to the laws thereto belonging, and had rendered
the mind of the king of Persia favorable to them. So these men offered
the largest sacrifices on these accounts, and used great magnificence
in the worship of God, and dwelt in Jerusalem, and made use of a form of
government that was aristocratical, but mixed with an oligarchy, for the
hig