- In the seventh month, the people gather together in Jerusalem.
- The high priest Jeshua, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and the priests set up an altar to God on the ruined foundations of the temple and make offerings day and night.
- The people observe the "festival of booths" and make the various kinds of burnt offerings required by God's laws from the time of Moses.
- They also hire carpenters and masons to rebuild the temple's foundation, and buy cedar wood from the Sidonians and Tyrians with the authorization of King Cyrus.
- In the second month of the second year after their arrival, Jeshua and Zerubbabel lead the people in laying the new temple foundations. They appoint the Levites to oversee the work.
- When the builders lay the foundations, the priests blow trumpets and the Levites play cymbals.
- Then they sing psalms composed by King David, praising God's goodness and steadfast love.
- The people shout with joy when the temple foundations are laid.
- But many of the elderly priests, Levites, and heads of families who remember the first temple weep aloud at the same time.
- The people can't distinguish the weeping from the joyful shout, and all the noise from the celebration can be heard far away.