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And the singers, the descendants of Asaph, were at their stations according to the decree of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the seer of the king. And the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites had made preparations for them.

After all of this that Josiah had prepared for the temple, Neco the king of Egypt went up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went up to meet him.

And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am badly wounded."

And Jeremiah uttered a lament for Josiah, and all the male and female singers have spoken in their laments about Josiah to this day. And they made them a requirement in Israel, and behold, they are written in the laments.

Now the remainder of the words of Josiah and his loyal love for what is written in the law of Yahweh

And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for Yahweh.

"Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: ‘Yahweh the God of heaven has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build a house for him at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you from all his people, may Yahweh his God go up with him.'"

"Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: Yahweh, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. And he himself has appointed me to build a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

And let every survivor, from wherever he resides be assisted by the men of that place with silver and gold, with possessions and domestic animals, and with the freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem."

So the heads of the families for Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites—to all whose spirit God had stirred—prepared to go up and build the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem.

The governor said to them that they could not eat from the holy food of the sanctuary until there was present a priest for the Urim and Thummim.

When some of the heads of families came to the house of Yahweh that is in Jerusalem, they gave freewill offerings for the house of God to erect it on its place.

According to their ability they gave to the treasury room for the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priestly tunics.

They set up the altar on its foundations, because they were in terror because of the peoples of the lands. And they offered burnt offerings on it for Yahweh, burnt offerings for the morning and the evening.

And they kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered burnt offerings day by day in number according to the ordinance as described for each day.

After this, they presented the daily sacrifice of burnt offerings, the offerings for the New Moon Festival, and for all of the appointed times consecrated for Yahweh and for all who gave a freewill offering to Yahweh.

And they sang responsively, with praising and thanksgiving to Yahweh saying, "For he is good, for his loyal love is everlasting for Israel." And all of the people responded with a great shout of joyful acclaim in praise to Yahweh because the house of Yahweh was laid.

No person could distinguish the sound of joyful acclaim from the sound of people weeping, for the people shouted with great joyful acclaim and the sound was heard from afar.

Now the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple for Yahweh the God of Israel.

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel said to them, "It is not for you but for us to build a house for our God. For we ourselves alone will build it for Yahweh the God of Israel, just as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us."