Daniel Interprets the Handwriting

13 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of ⁱthe exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah.

Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding

1 Now when ^gthe adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel,

16 And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the ⁱdedication of this house of God with joy.

Passover Celebrated

19 ⁿOn the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. 20 ^oFor the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. ^pSo they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves.

7 And a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem,

16 Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men,¹ heads of fathers’ houses, according to their fathers’ houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter;