Ezra 3 · Grade 4
Worship Before Walls
Read and Think
When the seventh month came, the people gathered in Jerusalem as one man. First, Jeshua and Zerubbabel built the altar on its base. They feared the peoples of the lands. Yet they gave burnt offerings each morning and evening. They kept the feast of booths as it is written.
They paid the stone workers and carpenters. They sent food and oil to get cedar trees from Lebanon. Cyrus had allowed this. In the second year, Levites twenty years old and up were put in charge of the work.
Then the foundation was laid. The priests blew trumpets. The Levites praised God with cymbals, as David had said to do. They sang that He is good and that His loving kindness endures forever toward Israel. Many shouted for joy, but old men who remembered the first house wept aloud. The people could not tell the shout of joy from the noise of weeping.
Show What You Know
What did the people build before anything else?
Where did the cedar trees come from?
Who sounded trumpets at the foundation?
Why could the people not tell the sounds apart?
Word Bank Fill-In
Use the word bank to fill in each blank.
- First, Jeshua and Zerubbabel built the on its base.
- The blew trumpets.
- The Levites praised with cymbals, as David had said to do.
- They sang that He is and that His loving kindness endures forever toward Israel.
- Many shouted for joy, but old men who remembered the first house aloud.
Think About It
The people built the altar before the walls or the temple. How can you put worship first in your day?
Some shouted for joy while others wept. How can you be honest with God about both joy and sadness?
Memory Verse
“They sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel.” All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of Yahweh’s house had been laid.”
Ezra 3:11 (WEB)
Copy It
Prayer
Dear God, thank You for Your loving kindness that lasts forever. Help me . Amen.
Take It Home
For families: talk about these together.
- How did the people worship while they were afraid?
- How can joy and sadness come together?
Scripture: World English Bible, public domain, eBible.org. © 2026 The Daily Rooted. Free to print and copy for church and home use; not for resale. Original line art.