Haggai

Chapter 1

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 hand of Haggai the prophet, saying: Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, of the tribe of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying:

2 Thus says the Lord Almighty, saying: This people say, The time has not come to build the house of the Lord.

3 And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying:

4 Is it a time for you to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies desolate?

5 And now thus says the Lord Almighty: Set your hearts now upon your ways.

6 You have sown much and brought in little; you have eaten, but not to fullness; you have drunk, but not to satisfaction; you have clothed yourselves, but were not warmed by them; and he who gathers wages has gathered them into a bag with holes.

7 Thus says the Lord Almighty: Set your hearts upon your ways.

8 Go up to the mountain and cut wood and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord.

9 You looked for much, and it came to little; and it was brought into the house, and I blew it away. Therefore thus says the Lord Almighty: Because my house is desolate, while you each run to his own house,

10 therefore the heaven shall withhold its dew, and the earth shall keep back its produce;

11 and I will bring a sword upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon whatever the earth brings forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labors of their hands.

12 And Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, of the tribe of Judah, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people heard the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, inasmuch as the Lord their God had sent him to them; and the people feared before the face of the Lord.

13 And Haggai the messenger of the Lord said to the people: I am with you, says the Lord.

14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, of the tribe of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the remnant of all the people; and they came in and did work in 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.

Chapter 2

1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the Lord spoke by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying:

2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, of the tribe of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, saying:

3 Who among you is there who saw this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now? As though it were not before you.

4 And now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and let all the people of the land be strong, says the Lord, and work; for I am with you, says the Lord Almighty,

5 and my spirit stands in your midst; take courage.

6 For thus says the Lord Almighty: Yet once more I will shake the heaven and the earth and the sea and the dry land;

7 and I will shake all the nations, and the choice things of all the nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty.

8 The silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord Almighty.

9 For the latter glory of this house shall be great, above the former, says the Lord Almighty; and in this place I will give peace, says the Lord Almighty, and peace of soul as a possession to everyone who builds, to raise up this temple.

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

11 Thus says the Lord Almighty: Ask the priests concerning the law, saying:

12 If a man takes holy flesh in the corner of his garment, and the corner of his garment touches bread or pottage or wine or oil or any food, will it be made holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

13 And Haggai said: If one defiled by a dead soul touches any of these, will it be defiled? And the priests answered and said, It will be defiled.

14 And Haggai answered and said: So is this people, and so is this nation before me, says the Lord, and so are all the works of their hands, and whoever draws near there shall be defiled because of their early gains; they shall be pained because of their toils; and you hated those who reproved in the gates.

15 And now, lay it to your hearts from this day and onward, before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord,

16 what you were: when you cast into the barley bin twenty measures, and there were ten measures of barley; and you went into the wine vat to draw out fifty measures, and there were twenty.

17 I struck you with blight and with wind-blast and with hail, all the works of your hands, and you did not turn back to me, says the Lord.

18 Submit now your hearts from this day and onward: from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, and from the day when the temple of the Lord was founded, lay it in your hearts:

19 whether it will still be known upon the threshing floor, and whether the vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate and the olive trees that bear no fruit—from this day I will bless.

20 And the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai the prophet on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying:

21 Speak to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, of the tribe of Judah, saying: I am shaking the heaven and the earth and the sea and the dry land,

22 and I will overturn the thrones of kings and destroy the power of the kings of the nations, and I will overturn chariots and riders; and horses and their riders shall come down, each by the sword against his brother.

23 In that day, says the Lord Almighty, I will take you, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, my servant, says the Lord, and I will set you as a seal, for I have chosen you, says the Lord Almighty.