Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations

The Conversion of the Nations

Israel’s Joy and Restoration

Haggai

The Command to Rebuild the Temple

1 In the second year of ^aDarius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of ^bHaggai the prophet to ^cZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to ^dJoshua the 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 house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ^epaneled houses, ^fwhile this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ^gConsider your ways. 6 ^hYou have sown much, and harvested little. ⁱYou eat, but you never have enough; ^jyou drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns ^kwages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the ^ldew, 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 ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”

The People Obey the Lord

12 Then ^mZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the 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 Haggai the prophet, 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, ⁿ“I am with you, declares the Lord.” 14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the 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, in the second year of Darius the king.

The Coming Glory of the Temple

2 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: 2 “Speak now to ^oZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? ^pIs it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now ^qbe 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. Work, for ^rI am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the ^scovenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. ^tMy Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: ^uYet once more, in a little while, ^vI will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the ^wtreasures of all nations shall come in, and I will ^xfill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”

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 by Haggai the prophet, 11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: 12 ^y‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” The priests answered and said, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, ^z“It does become unclean.” 14 Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. 15 Now then, ^aconsider from this day onward.¹ Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, 16 how did you fare? ^bWhen² 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 ^cblight and with mildew and with hail, ^dyet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. 18 Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the ^efoundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the ^fvine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will ^gbless you.”

Zerubbabel Chosen as a Signet

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 ^hshake 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 go down, every one by the sword of his brother. 23 On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel ⁱmy servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a^{3 j}signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.”

Zechariah

A Call to Return to the Lord

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of ^aDarius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^bZechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, 2 “The Lord was very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: ^cReturn to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 ^dDo not be like your fathers, to whom the ^eformer prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^fReturn from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did ^gnot hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. 5 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not ^hovertake your fathers? So they repented and said, ⁱ‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.’”

A Vision of a Horseman

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, 8 “I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a ^jred horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and ^kwhite horses. 9 Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The ^langel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ 10 So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to ^mpatrol the earth.’ 11 And they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.’ 12 Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these ⁿseventy years?’ 13 And the Lord answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^oI am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15 And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are ^pat ease; for ^qwhile I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. 16 Therefore, ^rthus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; ^smy house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and the ^tmeasuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17 Cry out again, Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and ^uagain choose Jerusalem.’”

A Vision of Horns and Craftsmen

18 ¹ And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns! 19 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” 20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. 21 And I said, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

A Vision of a Man with a Measuring Line

2 ¹ And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a ^vmeasuring line in his hand! 2 Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” 3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him 4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. 5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”

6 ^wUp! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. 7 Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me² to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the ^xapple of his eye: 9 “Behold, I will ^yshake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that ^zthe Lord of hosts has sent me. 10 ^aSing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. 11 And many nations shall ^bjoin themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 12 And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will ^cagain choose Jerusalem.”

13 ^dBe silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from ^ehis holy dwelling.