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.”

Healing of a Man on the Sabbath

14 One Sabbath, ^(A)when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were ^(B)watching him carefully. ² And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. ³ And Jesus responded to ^(C)the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ^(D)“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” ⁴ But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. ⁵ And he said to them, ^(E)“Which of you, having a son^[a] or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” ^6 (F)And they could not reply to these things.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

⁷ Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed ^(G)how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, ⁹ and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, ^(H)so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. ¹¹ For ^(I)everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Parable of the Great Banquet

¹² He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give ^(J)a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers^[b] or your relatives or rich neighbors, ^(K)lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a feast, ^(L)invite ^(M)the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid ^(N)at ^(O)the resurrection of the just.”

¹⁵ When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, ^(P)“Blessed is everyone who will ^(Q)eat bread in the kingdom of God!” ¹⁶ But he said to him, ^(R)“A man once ^(S)gave a great banquet and invited many. ¹⁷ And at the time for the banquet he ^(T)sent his servant^[c] to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ ²⁰ And another said, ^(U)‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ ²¹ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in ^(V)the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²² And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you,^{[d] (W)}none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”