Chapter
1
The People Urged to Build the
Temple
1: In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth
month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet
Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of
Jehozadak, the high priest:
2: Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say
the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord's house.
3: Then the word of the Lord came by the prophet
Haggai, saying:
4: Is it a time for you yourselves to live
in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?
5: Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider
how you have fared.
6: You have sown much, and harvested little; you
eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you
clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to
put them into a bag with holes.
7: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you
have fared.
8: Go up to the hills and bring wood and build
the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the
Lord.
9: You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to
little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of
hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own
houses.
10: Therefore the heavens above you have withheld
the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.
11: And I have called for a drought on the land
and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the soil produces,
on human beings and animals, and on all their labors.
12: Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua
son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed
the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of the prophet Haggai, as the
Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared the Lord.
13: Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke
to the people with the Lord's message, saying, I am with you, says the
Lord.
14: And the Lord stirred up the spirit of
Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of
Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people;
and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,
15: on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the
sixth month.
Chapter
2
The Glory of
the New Temple
1: In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on
the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet
Haggai, saying:
2: Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of
Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of
the people, and say,
3: Who is left among you that saw this house in its
former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?
4: Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take
courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you
people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of
hosts,
5: according to the promise that I made you when you
came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.
6: For
thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the
heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land;
7: and
I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come,
and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts.
8: The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the
Lord of hosts.
9: The latter splendor of this house shall be greater
than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give
prosperity, says the Lord of hosts.
The People's
Unfaithfulness Reproved
10: On the twenty-fourth
day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came
by the prophet Haggai, saying:
11: Thus says the Lord of
hosts: Ask the priests for a ruling:
12: If one carries
consecrated meat in the fold of one's garment, and with the fold touches bread,
or stew, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priests
answered, "No."
13: Then Haggai said, "If one who
is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become
unclean?" The priests answered, "Yes, it becomes unclean."
14: Haggai then said, So
is it with this people, and with this nation before me, says the Lord; and so
with every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.
15: But now, consider what
will come to pass from this day on. Before a stone was placed upon a stone in the
Lord's temple,
16: how did you fare? [1]When one came
to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat
to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty.
17: I struck you and all
the products of your toil with blight and mildew and hail; yet you did not
return to me, says the Lord.
18: Consider from this
day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the
foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider:
19: Is there any seed left in the barn?
Do the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still yield
nothing? From this day on I will bless you.
The LORD's
Promise to Zerubbabel
20: The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on
the twenty-fourth day of the month:
21: Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about
to shake the heavens and the earth,
22: and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I am about to
destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots
and their riders; and the horses and their riders shall fall, everyone by the
sword of a comrade.
23: On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take you,
O Zerubbabel my servant, son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and make you like a
signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts.
No comments:
Post a Comment