Haggai 1
A Call to Build the House of the LORD
1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the LORD'S house to be built.’ ”
3 Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai:
4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.
6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.
8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD.
9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.
10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.
11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.”
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD.
13 Then Haggai, the LORD'S messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: “I am with you,” declares the LORD.
14 So 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 the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God,
15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.
Haggai 2
The Promised Glory of the New House
1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh
month, the word of the LORD came through
the prophet Haggai:
2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,
governor of Judah, to Joshua son of
Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the
remnant of the people. Ask them,
3 ‘Who of you is left who saw this house
in its former glory? How does it look to
you now? Does it not seem to you like
nothing?
4 But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’
declares the LORD. ‘Be strong, O Joshua
son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be
strong, all you people of the land,’
declares the LORD, ‘and work. For I am
with you,’ declares the LORD Almighty.
5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you
when you came out of Egypt. And my
Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’
6 “This is what the LORD Almighty says:
‘In a little while I will once more
shake the heavens and the earth, the sea
and the dry land.
7 I will shake all nations, and the
desired of all nations will come, and I
will fill this house with glory,’ says
the LORD Almighty.
8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is
mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty.
9 ‘The glory of this present house will
be greater than the glory of the former
house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in
this place I will grant peace,’ declares
the LORD Almighty.”
Blessings for a Defiled People
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth
month, in the second year of Darius, the
word of the LORD came to the prophet
Haggai:
11 “This is what the LORD Almighty says:
‘Ask the priests what the law says:
12 If a person carries consecrated meat
in the fold of his garment, and that
fold touches some bread or stew, some
wine, oil or other food, does it become
consecrated?’ ” The priests answered,
“No.”
13 Then Haggai said, “If a person
defiled by contact with a dead body
touches one of these things, does it
become defiled?” “Yes,” the priests
replied, “it becomes defiled.”
14 Then Haggai said, “ ‘So it is with
this people and this nation in my
sight,’ declares the LORD. ‘Whatever
they do and whatever they offer there is
defiled.
15 “ ‘Now give careful thought to this
from this day on—consider how things
were before one stone was laid on
another in the LORD'S temple.
16 When anyone came to a heap of twenty
measures, there were only ten. When
anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty
measures, there were only twenty.
17 I struck all the work of your hands
with blight, mildew and hail, yet you
did not turn to me,’ declares the LORD.
18 ‘From this day on, from this
twenty-fourth day of the ninth month,
give careful thought to the day when the
foundation of the LORD'S temple was
laid. Give careful thought:
19 Is there yet any seed left in the
barn? Until now, the vine and the fig
tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree
have not borne fruit. “ ‘From this day
on I will bless you.’ ”
Zerubbabel the LORD'S Signet Ring
20 The word of the LORD came to Haggai a
second time on the twenty-fourth day of
the month:
21 “Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah
that I will shake the heavens and the
earth.
22 I will overturn royal thrones and
shatter the power of the foreign
kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and
their drivers; horses and their riders
will fall, each by the sword of his
brother.
23 “ ‘On that day,’ declares the LORD
Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant
Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares
the LORD, ‘and I will make you like my
signet ring, for I have chosen you,’
declares the LORD Almighty.”