Today is the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the day that the foundation of the Temple has been completed. See what is going to happen from now on.

Don't you see what is happening to you?

Can't you see why this has happened?

May those who are wise think about these things; may they consider the LORD's constant love.

At your feasts you have harps and tambourines and flutes---and wine. But you don't understand what the LORD is doing,

May those who are wise understand what is written here, and may they take it to heart. The LORD's ways are right, and righteous people live by following them, but sinners stumble and fall because they ignore them.

I ask you, is it right for a person to cheat God? Of course not, yet you are cheating me. 'How?' you ask. In the matter of tithes and offerings.

Bring the full amount of your tithes to the Temple, so that there will be plenty of food there. Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things.

What did you gain from doing the things that you are now ashamed of ? The result of those things is death!

If we would examine ourselves first, we would not come under God's judgment.

When the builders started to lay the foundation of the Temple, the priests in their robes took their places with trumpets in their hands, and the Levites of the clan of Asaph stood there with cymbals. They praised the LORD according to the instructions handed down from the time of King David.

Work on the Temple had been stopped and had remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Emperor Darius of Persia.