Haggai 1-2
Haggai Begins Temple Building
In the asecond year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet bHaggai to cZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, dgovernor of Judah, and to eJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”’” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house alies desolate?” 5 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! 6 You have asown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the mountains, bring wood and arebuild the temple, that I may be bpleased with it and be cglorified,” says the Lord. 9 “aYou look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I bblow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which clies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the asky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 I called for a adrought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on bmen, on cattle, and on call the labor of your hands.”
12 Then aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and bJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, cobeyed 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 dshowed reverence for the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the amessenger of the Lord, spoke by the commission of the Lord to the people saying, “ ‘bI am with you,’ declares the Lord.” 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, agovernor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the bremnant of the people; and they came and cworked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.
The Builders Encouraged
On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by aHaggai the prophet saying, 2 “Speak now to aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, agovernor of Judah, and to aJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the bremnant of the people saying, 3 ‘Who is aleft among you who saw this temple in its bformer glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? 4 But now atake courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord, ‘take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work; for bI am with you,’ declares the Lord of hosts. 5 ‘As for the apromise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My bSpirit is abiding in your midst; cdo not fear!’ 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘aOnce more in a blittle while, I am going to cshake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. 7 I will shake aall the nations; and they will come with the bwealth of all nations, and I will cfill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. 8 ‘The asilver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord of hosts. 9 ‘The latter aglory of this house will be greater than the bformer,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give cpeace,’ declares the Lord of hosts.”
10 On the atwenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying, 11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘aAsk now the priests for a ruling: 12 If a man carries aholy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’” And the priests answered, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “aIf one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.” 14 Then Haggai said, “ ‘aSo is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. 15 But now, do aconsider from this day onward: before one bstone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord, 16 from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty. 17 I smote you and every work of your hands with ablasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the Lord. 18 ‘Do aconsider from this day onward, from the btwenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the Lord was cfounded, consider: 19 Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will abless you.’”
20 Then the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the atwenty-fourth day of the month, saying, 21 “Speak to aZerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, ‘I am going to bshake the heavens and the earth. 22 I will aoverthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the bpower of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will coverthrow the chariots and their riders, and the dhorses and their riders will go down, eeveryone by the sword of another.’ 23 ‘On that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like a asignet ring, for bI have chosen you,’” declares the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 1
A Call to Repentance
In the eighth month of the second year of aDarius, the word of the Lord came to bZechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of cIddo saying, 2 “The Lord was very aangry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “aReturn to Me,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. 4 “Do not be alike your fathers, to whom the bformer prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “cReturn now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.”’ But they did dnot listen or give heed to Me,” declares the Lord. 5 “Your afathers, where are they? And the bprophets, do they live forever? 6 But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, aovertake your fathers? Then they repented and said, ‘bAs the Lord of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’”’”
Patrol of the Earth
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows: 8 I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a ared horse, and he was standing among the bmyrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel and cwhite horses behind him. 9 Then I said, “My alord, what are these?” And the bangel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” 10 And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are those whom the Lord has sent to apatrol the earth.” 11 So they answered the angel of the Lord who was astanding among the myrtle trees and said, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, ball the earth is peaceful and quiet.”
12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “O Lord of hosts, ahow long will You bhave no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been cindignant these dseventy years?” 13 The Lord answered the aangel who was speaking with me with gracious words, bcomforting words. 14 So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “aProclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I am bexceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. 15 But I am very aangry with the nations who are bat ease; for while I was only a little angry, they cfurthered the disaster.” 16 Therefore thus says the Lord, “I will areturn to Jerusalem with compassion; My bhouse will be built in it,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and a measuring cline will be stretched over Jerusalem.”’ 17 Again, proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “My acities will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again bcomfort Zion and again cchoose Jerusalem.”’”
18 Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns. 19 So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he answered me, “These are the ahorns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.” 20 Then the Lord showed me four acraftsmen. 21 I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he said, “These are the ahorns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to bthrow down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”
Psalm 138
Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Favor.
A Psalm of David.
aI will give You thanks with all my heart;
I will sing praises to You before the bgods.
2 I will bow down atoward Your holy temple
And bgive thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have cmagnified Your word according to all Your name.
3 On the day I acalled, You answered me;
You made me bold with bstrength in my soul.
4 aAll the kings of the earth will give thanks to You, O Lord,
When they have heard the words of Your mouth.
5 And they will asing of the ways of the Lord,
For bgreat is the glory of the Lord.
6 For athough the Lord is exalted,
Yet He bregards the lowly,
But the chaughty He knows from afar.
7 Though I awalk in the midst of trouble, You will brevive me;
You will cstretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will dsave me.
8 The Lord will aaccomplish what concerns me;
Your blovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting;
cDo not forsake the dworks of Your hands.
1 John 2
Christ Is Our Advocate
aMy little children, I am bwriting these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, cwe have an dAdvocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is athe propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also bfor those of the whole world.
3 aBy this we know that we have come to bknow Him, if we ckeep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “aI have come to bknow Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a cliar, and dthe truth is not in him; 5 but whoever akeeps His word, in him the blove of God has truly been perfected. cBy this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he aabides in Him bought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
7 aBeloved, I am bnot writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had cfrom the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing aa new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because bthe darkness is passing away and cthe true Light is already shining. 9 The one who says he is in the Light and yet ahates his bbrother is in the darkness until now. 10 aThe one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who ahates his brother is in the darkness and bwalks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has cblinded his eyes.
12 I am writing to you, alittle children, because byour sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him awho has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because byou have overcome cthe evil one. I have written to you, children, because dyou know the Father. 14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him awho has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are bstrong, and the cword of God abides in you, and dyou have overcome the evil one.
Do Not Love the World
15 Do not love athe world nor the things in the world. bIf anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, athe lust of the flesh and bthe lust of the eyes and cthe boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 aThe world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who bdoes the will of God lives forever.
18 Children, ait is the last hour; and just as you heard that bantichrist is coming, ceven now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. 19 aThey went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, bso that it would be shown that they all are not of us. 20 But you have an aanointing from bthe Holy One, and cyou all know. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but abecause you do know it, and because no lie is bof the truth. 22 Who is the liar but athe one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is bthe antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 aWhoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, let that abide in you which you heard afrom the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also bwill abide in the Son and in the Father.
The Promise Is Eternal Life
25 aThis is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to adeceive you. 27 As for you, the aanointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing bteaches you about all things, and is ctrue and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
28 Now, alittle children, abide in Him, so that when He bappears, we may have cconfidence and dnot shrink away from Him in shame at His ecoming. 29 If you know that aHe is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness bis born of Him.
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
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