When the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their positions to praise the LORD, as David king of Israel had prescribed. And they sang responsively with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: "For He is good; for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever." Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.
The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the LORD with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the LORD: "For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever." And the temple, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud
Significance
When the foundation of the second temple is laid (Ezra 3:10-11), the Levites sing the same liturgical formula used at Solomon's temple dedication (2 Chr 5:13): "For He is good; for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever" (כִּי טוֹב כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ, ki tov ki le'olam chasdo). The deliberate use of identical praise vocabulary connects the two temple inaugurations, asserting continuity between Solomon's magnificent temple and Zerubbabel's humbler replacement. The echo claims that the same covenant faithfulness (חֶסֶד, chesed) that filled Solomon's temple with glory is operative in the restored community's worship, even amid diminished circumstances.
