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.’”

Blessings for a Defiled People

^10 (BD)On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, ^(BE)in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, ¹¹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(BF)Ask the priests about the law: ¹² ‘If someone carries ^(BG)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, ^(BH)“No.” ¹³ Then Haggai said, ^(BI)“If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body ^(BJ)touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” ¹⁴ Then Haggai answered and said, ^(BK)“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, ^(BL)consider from this day onward.^[a] Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, ¹⁶ how did you fare? ^(BM)When^[b] 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 (BN)I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, ^(BO)yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. ^18 (BP)Consider from this day onward, ^(BQ)from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since ^(BR)the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, ^(BS)consider: ^19 (BT)Is 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 ^(BU)I will bless you.”

Zerubbabel Chosen as a Signet

²⁰ The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai ^(BV)on the twenty-fourth day of the month, ²¹ “Speak to ^(BW)Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ^(BX)I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, ²² and ^(BY)to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and ^(BZ)overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, ^(CA)every one by the sword of his brother. ²³ On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O ^(CB)Zerubbabel ^(CC)my servant, the son of ^(CD)Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you ^(CE)like a^[c] signet ring, ^(CF)for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.”

Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord

1 Now the word of the Lord came to ^(A)Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(B)Nineveh, that ^(C)great city, and call out against it, ^(D)for their evil^[a] has come up before me.” ³ But Jonah ^(E)rose to flee to ^(F)Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to ^(G)Joppa and found a ship going to ^(H)Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to ^(I)Tarshish, ^(J)away from the presence of the Lord.

⁴ But ^(K)the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened ^(L)to break up. ⁵ Then the mariners were afraid, and ^(M)each cried out to his god. And ^(N)they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. ⁶ So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, ^(O)call out to your god! ^(P)Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea

⁷ And they said to one another, “Come, let us ^(Q)cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” ⁹ And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear ^(R)the Lord, the God of heaven, ^(S)who made the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰ Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that ^(T)he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

¹¹ Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. ¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, ^(U)for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” ¹³ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard^[b] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. ¹⁴ Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and ^(V)lay not on us innocent blood, ^(W)for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” ¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, ^(X)and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, ^(Y)and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord ^(Z)and made vows.

A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

^17 [c] And the Lord appointed^[d] a great fish to swallow up Jonah. ^(AA)And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah's Prayer

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, ² saying,

¹⁰ And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(AP)Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now ^(AQ)Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,^[e] three days' journey in breadth.^{[f] 4} Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” ^5 (AR)And the people of Nineveh believed God. ^(AS)They called for a fast and ^(AT)put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The People of Nineveh Repent

⁶ The word reached^[g] the king of Nineveh, and ^(AU)he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, ^(AV)and sat in ashes. ⁷ And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, ^(AW)“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor ^(AX)beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, ⁸ but let man and ^(AY)beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. ^(AZ)Let everyone turn from his evil way and from ^(BA)the violence that is in his hands. ^9 (BB)Who knows? God may turn and relent ^(BC)and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw what they did, ^(BD)how they turned from their evil way, ^(BE)God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

The Woman and the Dragon

12 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman ^(A)clothed with ^(B)the sun, with ^(C)the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ² She was pregnant and ^(D)was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. ³ And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great ^(E)red dragon, ^(F)with seven heads and ^(G)ten horns, and on his heads ^(H)seven diadems. ⁴ His tail swept down ^(I)a third of the stars of heaven and ^(J)cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child ^(K)he might devour it. ⁵ She gave birth to a male child, ^(L)one who is to rule^[a] all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was ^(M)caught up to God and to his throne, ⁶ and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for ^(N)1,260 days.

Satan Thrown Down to Earth

⁷ Now war arose in heaven, ^(O)Michael and ^(P)his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, ⁸ but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹ And ^(Q)the great dragon was thrown down, ^(R)that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, ^(S)the deceiver of the whole world—^(T)he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. ¹⁰ And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now ^(U)the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers^[b] has been thrown down, ^(V)who accuses them day and night before our God. ¹¹ And ^(W)they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for ^(X)they loved not their lives ^(Y)even unto death. ¹² Therefore, ^(Z)rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But ^(AA)woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because ^(AB)he knows that his time is short!”

¹³ And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued ^(AC)the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ But the woman was given the two ^(AD)wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent ^(AE)into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished ^(AF)for a time, and times, and half a time. ¹⁵ The serpent poured water ^(AG)like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. ¹⁶ But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. ¹⁷ Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off ^(AH)to make war on the rest of ^(AI)her offspring, ^(AJ)on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to ^(AK)the testimony of Jesus. And he stood^[c] on the sand of the sea.