Haggai 1

²accompanied by Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. This is the count of the men of Israel:

²Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests, along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates, began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.

⁸In the second month of the second year after they had arrived at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their associates including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years of age or older to supervise the construction of the house of the Lord.

⁷accompanied by Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah. This is the count of the men of Israel:

¹⁰On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying,

¹²Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. So the people feared the Lord.

²³When the text of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and forcibly stopped them.

¹⁰Meanwhile, the people of Judah said: “The strength of the laborer fails, and there is so much rubble that we will never be able to rebuild the wall.”

¹⁰Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

⁴He who watches the wind will fail to sow, and he who observes the clouds will fail to reap.

²I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³I have taken off my robe—must I put it back on? I have washed my feet—must I soil them again?

³¹But the men who had gone up with him replied, “We cannot go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are!”

¹Later, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.

¹In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying:

²he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

³“I will not enter my house or get into my bed,

⁴I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,

²¹For all the others look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

⁹You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the Lord of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

³³But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

¹How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.

⁴⁰Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the Lord.

⁵Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you fail the test?

¹⁵Now consider carefully from this day forward: Before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord,

¹⁶from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.

⁷This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.

¹⁷Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death!

²¹but those who disregarded the word of the Lord left their servants and livestock in the field.

⁹You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the Lord of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

¹⁰They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply. For they have abandoned the Lord to give themselves

³⁸You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.

³⁹You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.

¹⁶from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.

⁷For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.

⁹You are cursed with a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me.

¹⁰Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the Lord of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.

⁵⁹I considered my ways and turned my steps to Your testimonies.

⁶⁰I hurried without hesitating to keep Your commandments.

⁵Now this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.

¹Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

¹³For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home:

¹⁴“This is My resting place forever and ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired this home.

¹⁶For I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.

⁸Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber there. And indeed, my servants will work with yours

⁹to prepare for me timber in abundance, because the temple I am building will be great and wonderful.

⁷I will shake all the nations, and they will come with all their treasures, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Hosts.

³And the Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer and petition before Me. I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting My Name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.

⁴³I will also meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by My glory.

⁴“Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

²If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the Lord of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.

¹⁶from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.

¹⁷I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the Lord.

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

⁵I considered the days of old, the years long in the past.

⁶At night I remembered my song; in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered:

⁶You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”

³⁵When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,

¹⁹I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,

¹Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

²³The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.

²⁴The Lord will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

¹⁸How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

¹⁹To You, O Lord, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field.

⁹Therefore I will take back My grain in its time and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were given to cover her nakedness.

¹⁷I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the Lord.

²²The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.

¹Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the Lord has decreed that a seven-year famine will come to the land.”

¹Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

⁸He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the Lord is His name—

²⁹But when He remains silent, who can condemn Him? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both man and nation,

¹⁰Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord; let him lean on his God.

¹⁴So the Lord stirred the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and began the work on the house of the Lord of Hosts, their God,

¹Hallelujah! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.

²Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak rose up and began to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

¹³When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.

⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

²⁰and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

¹“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts.

³¹What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

¹¹The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

⁴But now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work! For I am with you, declares the Lord of Hosts.

²²In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:

²¹equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating

²¹“Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am about to shake the heavens and the earth:

⁵So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had stirred—prepared to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

¹In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:

¹In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating

²⁰For the second time that day, the twenty-fourth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to Haggai, saying,

¹On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet, saying:

¹⁰On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying,