Ezra 3:12-13

3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ¹  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ²  – were weeping loudly, ³  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. 3:13 People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly ⁴  that the sound was heard a long way off.

[3:12]  ¹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[3:12]  ² sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

[3:12]  ³ tn Heb “with a great voice.”

[3:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “a great shout.”