Haggai 2

²¹For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

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

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

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,

¹⁵on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

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

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,

⁸Cyrus king of Persia had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

⁹Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the Law.

⁶³The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest to consult the Urim and Thummim.

¹²But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first temple wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple. Still, many others shouted joyfully.

⁵As some of the disciples were remarking how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and consecrated gifts, Jesus said,

⁶“As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

⁹The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says the Lord of Hosts. And in this place I will provide peace, declares the Lord of Hosts.”

⁹“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you.

¹⁰For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven eyes of the Lord, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”

²⁰His beautiful ornaments they transformed into pride and used them to fashion their vile images and detestable idols. Therefore I will make these into something unclean for them.

²⁰David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do it. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you before all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.

⁹Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

⁹This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words spoken by the prophets who were present when the foundations were laid to rebuild the temple, the house of the Lord of Hosts.

²³Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

¹⁰And David became greater and greater, for the Lord God of Hosts was with him.

¹You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

⁴⁵Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.

⁴⁶And they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

¹⁰And the Lord said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will perform wonders that have never been done in any nation in all the world. All the people among whom you live will see the Lord’s work, for it is an awesome thing that I am doing with you.

¹³For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and tells you: Do not fear, I will help you.

²⁰You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst.

¹³As you have been a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid; let your hands be strong.”

¹⁵“so now I have resolved to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid.

²⁶At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth, but heaven as well.”

²⁷The words “Once more” signify the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that the unshakable may remain.

²⁵For in just a little while My fury against you will subside, and My anger will turn to their destruction.”

²⁵There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.

²⁶Men will faint from fear and anxiety over what is coming upon the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

²⁴But in those days, after that tribulation: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;

²⁵the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’

¹⁹I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

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

²²I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overturn chariots and their riders; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.

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.

¹¹so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:

¹¹Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!

³⁷On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

³⁸Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”

²⁷Led by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what was customary under the Law,

⁴⁴In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever.

⁴⁵And just as you saw a stone being cut out of the mountain without human hands, and it shattered the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, so the great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

¹⁰for every beast of the forest is Mine—the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine.

¹A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.

¹⁴But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from You, and from Your own hand we have given to You.

¹⁵For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.

¹⁷Instead of bronze I will bring you gold; I will bring silver in place of iron, bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones. I will appoint peace as your governor and righteousness as your ruler.

¹³The glory of Lebanon will come to you—its cypress, elm, and boxwood together—to adorn the place of My sanctuary, and I will glorify the place of My feet.

²⁰The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.

²¹So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold.

⁸I will listen to what God the Lord will say; for He will surely speak peace to His people and His saints; He will not let them return to folly.

⁹Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that His glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁹For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,

²⁰and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.

⁹For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness!

¹⁰Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it.

⁷Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter!

⁸Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

¹⁶By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory.

⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

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

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

¹⁵on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

¹⁰You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,

¹¹so that you may teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has given them through Moses.”

⁷For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.

¹⁰He will teach Your ordinances to Jacob and Your law to Israel; he will set incense before You and whole burnt offerings on Your altar.

⁹He must hold firmly to the faithful word as it was taught, so that he can encourage others by sound teaching and refute those who contradict it.

⁸If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the Lord your God will choose.

⁹You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Inquire of them, and they will give you a verdict in the case.

²³They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.

²⁴In any dispute, they shall officiate as judges and judge according to My ordinances. They must keep My laws and statutes regarding all My appointed feasts, and they must keep My Sabbaths holy.

²⁷Anything that touches its flesh will become holy, and if any of the blood is spattered on a garment, you must wash it in a holy place.

¹⁹You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?

¹⁹When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they are to take off the garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and dress in other clothes so that they do not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

⁶Every male among the priests may eat of it. It must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy.

³⁷For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will become most holy; whatever touches the altar will be holy.

²⁹Any male among the priests may eat it; it is most holy.

¹¹Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.

¹²He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean.

⁴If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen,

⁵or whoever touches a crawling creature or a person that makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be—

²“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.

³You must send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”

⁶But there were some men who were unclean due to a dead body, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron that same day

⁷and said to Moses, “We are unclean because of a dead body, but why should we be excluded from presenting the Lord’s offering with the other Israelites at the appointed time?”

¹⁵To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

⁹Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is detestable.

¹¹“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

¹²When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts?

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

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

⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable—how much more so when brought with ill intent!

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

¹⁰When 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.

¹⁸Consider carefully from this day forward—from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid—consider carefully:

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

²⁴Thus the construction of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

⁸Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.

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

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.”

⁹Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops;

¹⁰then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

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.

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.

¹⁰Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops.

¹⁰For before those days neither man nor beast received wages, nor was there safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I had turned every man against his neighbor.

¹¹But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord of Hosts.

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.

¹¹I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.”

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.

³⁷When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

⁸People staggered from city to city for water to drink, but they were not satisfied; yet you did not return to Me,” declares the Lord.

⁹“I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the Lord.

³O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

⁹This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words spoken by the prophets who were present when the foundations were laid to rebuild the temple, the house of the Lord of Hosts.

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

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.

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.

¹²“For the seed will be prosperous, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will yield its produce, and the skies will give their dew. To the remnant of this people I will give all these things as an inheritance.

²⁹If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.

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,

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.

¹⁷Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls,

¹⁸yet I will exult in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

⁹Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops;

¹⁰then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

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

¹¹But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord of Hosts.

¹²“For the seed will be prosperous, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will yield its produce, and the skies will give their dew. To the remnant of this people I will give all these things as an inheritance.

¹²Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him,

⁶So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.

⁷What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. Then he will bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”

⁶For this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.

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.

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

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.

²⁶At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth, but heaven as well.”

²⁷The words “Once more” signify the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that the unshakable may remain.

⁶Nations rage, kingdoms crumble; the earth melts when He lifts His voice.

¹⁰“In that day,” declares the Lord, “I will remove your horses from among you and wreck your chariots.

²²And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the Lord set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.

¹⁵I will take vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations that have not obeyed Me.”

⁹He makes wars to cease throughout the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields in the fire.

⁶So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.

⁷Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

¹⁰“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, and after Me none will come.

¹“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.

⁶So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.

⁷What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. Then he will bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”

⁶Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.

²⁴“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.

¹⁸“Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations.