¹⁷ Therefore,

⁶ “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have scattered^(A) you to the four winds of heaven,”^(B) declares the Lord.^(C)

⁷ “Come, Zion! Escape,^(D) you who live in Daughter Babylon!”^(E)

¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness,^(A) but rather expose them.

¹³ Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?”

“Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.^(A)”

¹⁴ Then Haggai said, “‘So it is with this people^(B) and this nation in my sight,’ declares the Lord. ‘Whatever they do and whatever they offer^(C) there is defiled.

⁷ Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.^{[a](A) 8} Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar^(B) the prince of Judah.

⁹ This was the inventory:

¹¹ In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Warning to Escape Babylon’s Judgment

⁴ Then I heard another voice from heaven say:

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

¹¹ Dear friends,^(A) I urge you, as foreigners and exiles,^(B) to abstain from sinful desires,^(C) which wage war against your soul.^(D)