A Call to Build the House of the Lord

1 In the second year of King Darius,^(A) on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai^(B) to Zerubbabel^(C) son of Shealtiel, governor^(D) of Judah, and to Joshua^(E) son of Jozadak,^[a](F) the high priest:^(G)

² in company with Zerubbabel,^(A) Joshua,^(B) Nehemiah, Seraiah,^(C) Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah):

⁸ In the second month^(A) of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel^(B) son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak and the rest of the people (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work. They appointed Levites twenty^(C) years old and older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord.

² Then Joshua^(A) son of Jozadak^(B) and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel^(C) and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses^(D) the man of God.

Blessings for a Defiled People

¹⁰ On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month,^(A) in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai:

¹² Then Zerubbabel^(A) son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant^(B) of the people obeyed^(C) the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared^(D) the Lord.

The list of the men of Israel:

¹⁴ So the Lord stirred up^(A) the spirit of Zerubbabel^(B) son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak,^(C) the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant^(D) of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God,

¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching^(A) of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus,^(B) Darius^(C) and Artaxerxes,^(D) kings of Persia.