Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding

4 Now when ^(A)the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, ² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever ^(B)since the days of ^(C)Esarhaddon king of Assyria ^(D)who brought us here.” ³ But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses in Israel said to them, ^(E)“You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(F)as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

⁴ Then ^(G)the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build ⁵ and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

⁶ And in the reign of ^(H)Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

⁷ In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and ^(I)Mithredath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written ^(J)in Aramaic and translated.^{[a] 8} Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: ⁹ Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the ^(K)judges, the ^(L)governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the ^(M)Elamites, ¹⁰ and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble ^(N)Osnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River. ¹¹ (This is a copy of the letter that they sent.) “To Artaxerxes the king: Your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River, send greeting. And now ¹² be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are ^(O)finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. ¹³ Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay ^(P)tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired. ¹⁴ Now because we eat the salt of the palace^[b] and it is not fitting for us to witness the king's dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, ¹⁵ in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste. ¹⁶ We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”

The King Orders the Work to Cease

¹⁷ The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now ¹⁸ the letter that you sent to us has been ^(Q)plainly read before me. ¹⁹ And I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. ²⁰ And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, ^(R)who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom ^(S)tribute, custom, and toll were paid. ²¹ Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. ²² And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”

²³ Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. ²⁴ Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

The Man of Lawlessness

2 Now concerning ^(A)the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our ^(B)being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,^{[a] 2} not to be quickly shaken in mind or ^(C)alarmed, either ^(D)by a spirit or a ^(E)spoken word, or ^(F)a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that ^(G)the day of the Lord has come. ^3 (H)Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, ^(I)unless the rebellion comes first, and ^(J)the man of lawlessness^[b] is revealed, ^(K)the son of destruction,^{[c] 4} who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, ^(L)proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. ⁷ For ^(M)the mystery of lawlessness ^(N)is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. ⁸ And then ^(O)the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus ^(P)will kill with ^(Q)the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by ^(R)the appearance of his coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan ^(S)with all power and false signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and with all wicked deception for ^(T)those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ Therefore ^(U)God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe ^(V)what is false, ¹² in order that all may be condemned ^(W)who did not believe the truth but ^(X)had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Firm

¹³ But ^(Y)we ought always to give thanks to God for you, ^(Z)brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you ^(AA)as the firstfruits^{[d] (AB)}to be saved, ^(AC)through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. ¹⁴ To this he called you through ^(AD)our gospel, ^(AE)so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ So then, brothers, ^(AF)stand firm and hold to ^(AG)the traditions that you were taught by us, either ^(AH)by our spoken word or by ^(AI)our letter.

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, ^(AJ)who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good ^(AK)hope through grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts and ^(AL)establish them in every good work and word.

The Command to Rebuild the Temple

1 ^(A)In 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 ^(B)Zerubbabel the son of ^(C)Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to ^(D)Joshua the son of ^(E)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 ^(F)by the hand of Haggai the prophet, ^4 (G)“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while ^(H)this house lies in ruins? ⁵ Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(I)Consider your ways. ^6 (J)You have sown much, and harvested little. ^(K)You 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 ^(L)earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(M)Consider your ways. ⁸ Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that ^(N)I may take pleasure in it and that ^(O)I may be glorified, says the Lord. ^9 (P)You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, ^(Q)I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house ^(R)that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore ^(S)the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹ And ^(T)I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on ^(U)the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and ^(V)on all their labors.”

The People Obey the Lord

^12 (W)Then ^(X)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and ^(Y)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all ^(Z)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, ^(AA)“I am with you, declares the Lord.” ¹⁴ And ^(AB)the Lord stirred up the spirit of ^(AC)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of ^(AD)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all ^(AE)the remnant of the people. And they came and ^(AF)worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, ^15 (AG)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 ^(AH)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 ^(AI)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to ^(AJ)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, ^3 (AK)‘Who is left among you who saw this house ^(AL)in its former glory? How do you see it now? ^(AM)Is it not as nothing in your eyes? ⁴ Yet now ^(AN)be strong, O ^(AO)Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. ^(AP)Be strong, O ^(AQ)Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. ^(AR)Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. ^(AS)Work, for ^(AT)I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, ^5 (AU)according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. ^(AV)My Spirit remains in your midst. ^(AW)Fear not. ⁶ For thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(AX)Yet once more, in a little while, ^(AY)I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. ⁷ And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and ^(AZ)I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. ^8 (BA)The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. ^9 (BB)The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And ^(BC)in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”

4 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem ^(A)to have failed to reach it. ² For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because ^(B)they were not united by faith with those who listened.^{[a] 3} For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ^(D)“And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” ⁵ And again in this passage he said,

⁶ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news ^(F)failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷ again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God^[b] would not have spoken of another day later on. ⁹ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, ¹⁰ for whoever has entered God's rest has also ^(H)rested from his works as God did from his.

¹¹ Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so ^(I)that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. ¹² For ^(J)the word of God is living and ^(K)active, ^(L)sharper than any ^(M)two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and ^(N)discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And ^(O)no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are ^(P)naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.