John 20:10–18; Revelation 18; Job 39; Haggai 1–2

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John 20:10–18

10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And oshe saw ptwo angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, qWoman, why are you weeping? She said to them, rThey have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. 14 Having said this, she turned around and ssaw Jesus standing, tbut she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, uWoman, why are you weeping? vWhom are you seeking? Supposing him to be wthe gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. 16 Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic,1 xRabboni! (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to ymy brothers and say to them, zI am ascending to my Father and your Father, to amy God and your God. 18 Mary Magdalene bwent and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lordand that he had said these things to her.


Revelation 18

The Fall of Babylon

After this I saw nanother angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and othe earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice,

pFallen, fallen is Babylon the great!

She has become qa dwelling place for demons,

a haunt rfor every unclean spirit,

a haunt sfor every unclean bird,

a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

For all nations have drunk1

tthe wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,

and uthe kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,

and vthe merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

wCome out of her, my people,

lest you take part in her sins,

lest you share in her plagues;

for xher sins are heaped high as heaven,

and yGod has remembered her iniquities.

zPay her back as she herself has paid back others,

and repay her adouble for her deeds;

mix a double portion for her bin the cup she mixed.

cAs she glorified herself and lived in luxury,

so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,

since in her heart she says,

dI sit as a queen,

I am no widow,

and mourning I shall never see.

For this reason her plagues will come ein a single day,

death and mourning and famine,

and fshe will be burned up with fire;

for gmighty is the Lord God who has judged her.

And hthe kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, iwill weep and wail over her jwhen they see the smoke of her burning. 10 kThey will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,

Alas! Alas! lYou great city,

you mighty city, Babylon!

For min a single hour your judgment has come.

11 And nthe merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.2

14  The fruit for which your soul longed

has gone from you,

and all your delicacies and your splendors

are lost to you,

never to be found again!

15 oThe merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, pwill stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,

16  Alas, alas, for the great city

qthat was clothed in fine linen,

in purple and scarlet,

adorned with gold,

with jewels, and with pearls!

17  For rin a single hour all this wealth shas been laid waste.

And tall shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and ucried out vas they saw the smoke of her burning,

wWhat city was like the great city?

19 And they threw xdust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

Alas, alas, for the great city

ywhere all who had ships at sea

grew rich by her wealth!

For zin a single hour she has been laid waste.

20  aRejoice over her, O heaven,

and you saints and bapostles and prophets,

for cGod has given judgment for you against her!

21 Then da mighty angel etook up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,

So will Babylon fthe great city be thrown down with violence,

and will be found no more;

22  and gthe sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,

will be heard in you no more,

and a craftsman of any craft

will be found in you no more,

and hthe sound of the mill

will be heard in you no more,

23  and the light of a lamp

will shine in you no more,

and ithe voice of bridegroom and bride

will be heard in you no more,

for jyour merchants were the great ones of the earth,

and all nations were deceived kby your sorcery.

24  And lin her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,

and of mall who have been slain on earth.


Job 39

Do you know when fthe mountain goats give birth?

Do you observe gthe calving of the does?

Can you number the months that they fulfill,

and do you know the time when they give birth,

when they hcrouch, bring forth their offspring,

and are delivered of their young?

Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open;

they go out and ido not return to them.

Who has let the wild donkey go free?

Who has jloosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

to whom I have given kthe arid plain for his home

and lthe salt land for his dwelling place?

He scorns the tumult of the city;

he hears not the shouts of the driver.

He ranges the mountains as his pasture,

and he searches after every green thing.

Is mthe wild ox willing to serve you?

Will he spend the night at your nmanger?

10  Can you bind mhim in the furrow with ropes,

or will he harrow the valleys after you?

11  Will you depend on him because his strength is great,

and will you leave to him your labor?

12  Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain

and gather it to your threshing floor?

13  The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,

but are they the pinions and plumage of love?1

14  For she leaves her eggs to the earth

and lets them be warmed on the ground,

15  forgetting that a foot may crush them

and that the wild beast may trample them.

16  She odeals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;

though her plabor be in vain, yet she has no fear,

17  because God has made her forget wisdom

and qgiven her no share in understanding.

18  When she rouses herself to flee,2

she laughs at the horse and his rider.

19  Do you give the horse his might?

Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

20  Do you make him leap like the locust?

His majestic rsnorting is terrifying.

21  He paws3 in the valley and exults in his strength;

he sgoes out to meet the weapons.

22  He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;

he does not turn back from the sword.

23  Upon him rattle the quiver,

the flashing spear, and the javelin.

24  With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground;

he cannot stand still at tthe sound of the trumpet.

25  When the trumpet sounds, he says Aha!

He smells the battle from afar,

the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26  Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars

and spreads his wings toward the south?

27  Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up

and makes his unest on high?

28  On the rock he dwells and makes his home,

on vthe rocky crag and stronghold.

29  From there he spies out the prey;

his eyes behold it from far away.

30  His young ones suck up blood,

and wwhere the slain are, there is he.


Haggai 1–2

The Command to Rebuild the Temple

aIn the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to bZerubbabel the son of cShealtiel, governor of Judah, and to dJoshua the son of eJehozadak, the high priest: Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came fby the hand of Haggai the prophet, gIs it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while hthis house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: iConsider your ways. jYou have sown much, and harvested little. kYou eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who learns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

Thus says the Lord of hosts: iConsider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that mI may take pleasure in it and that nI may be glorified, says the Lord. jYou looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, oI blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house hthat lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore pthe heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And qI have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on rthe grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and son all their labors.

The People Obey the Lord

12 tThen uZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and uJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all vthe 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, wI am with you, declares the Lord. 14 And xthe Lord stirred up the spirit of uZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of yJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all zthe remnant of the people. And they came and aworked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 bon 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

cIn the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: Speak now to dZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to dJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, eWho is left among you who saw this house fin its former glory? How do you see it now? gIs it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now hbe strong, O dZerubbabel, declares the Lord. hBe strong, O dJoshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. hBe strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. iWork, for jI am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, kaccording to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. lMy Spirit remains in your midst. mFear not. For thus says the Lord of hosts: nYet once more, in a little while, oI will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and pI will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. qThe silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. rThe latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And sin this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.

Blessings for a Defiled People

10 tOn the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, uin the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, 11 Thus says the Lord of hosts: vAsk the priests about the law: 12 If someone carries wholy 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, xNo. 13 Then Haggai said, yIf someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body ztouches any of these, does it become unclean? The priests answered and said, It does become unclean. 14 Then Haggai answered and said, aSo 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, bconsider from this day onward.1 Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, 16 how did you fare? cWhen2 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 dI struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, eyet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. 18 bConsider from this day onward, ffrom the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since gthe day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, bconsider: 19 hIs the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on iI will bless you.

Zerubbabel Chosen as a Signet

20 The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai fon the twenty-fourth day of the month, 21 Speak to jZerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, kI am about to shake the heavens and the earth, 22 and lto overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and moverthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, nevery one by the sword of his brother. 23 On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O jZerubbabel omy servant, the son of pShealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you qlike a3 signet ring, ofor I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.