Ezra 3

And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.

In the seventh month, when the Israelites were in the cities, everyone came together as one big group and went to Jerusalem.

Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.

Then Joshua, son of Jozadak, and his priest brothers, along with Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and his relatives, built an altar for God. They followed the laws of Moses, offering burnt sacrifices on the altar as instructed.

And they set the altar upon his bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD, even burnt offerings morning and evening.

They placed the altar on its base out of fear of the people from those nations. They offered sacrifices to God, both in the morning and evening.

They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required;

They celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, as described in the writings, and offered the daily burnt offerings based on a count, following tradition, according to each day's needs.

And afterward offered the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the LORD.

Afterward, they offered continuous offerings for special times like new moons and important festivals, as well as any who freely gave gifts to the Lord.

From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.

Starting on the first day of the seventh month, they began offering burnt offerings to God. However, the temple's foundation for the Lord had not been built yet.

They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

They paid money to the builders and carpenters, and gave food, drink, and oil to people from Zidon and Tyre. These people helped bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, following the permission they received from Cyrus, king of Persia.

Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the LORD.

In the second year after they arrived at God's house in Jerusalem, during the second month, Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the remaining priests and Levites, along with those freed from captivity, started rebuilding the Lord's house. They had the Levites aged 20 and above work on this project.

Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

Then, Jeshua, along with his sons and family members named Kadmiel, stood together with the people from the tribe of Judah. They all worked together to organize the workers for God's house. This included the descendants of Henadad and their relatives, who were also Levites.

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.

When the workers started building the LORD's temple, they dressed the priests and the musicians played trumpets, while the Levites, who were Asaph's children, played cymbals to celebrate and praise the LORD, following King David's rules from when he was the king of Israel.

And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

They sang together in turns, praising and thanking God. He's good and always shows mercy to Israel. Everyone shouted loudly as they praised God, celebrating the start of building His home.

But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:

But lots of old priests, Levites, and important leaders who saw the first temple being built cried loudly when they saw the foundation of the new temple. Many of them also cheered happily.

So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

This means that the people couldn't tell if the noise they heard was from cheering or crying because both sounds were very loud and far away.