17 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah.

² And he said to his mother, The 1,100 shekels of silver that were taken from you, about which you cursed and also spoke about in my hearing, behold, I have the silver with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be you by the Lord, my son!

³ He restored the 1,100 shekels of silver to his mother, and she said, I had truly dedicated the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will restore it to you.

⁴ So when he restored the money to his mother, she took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, who made of it a graven image and a molten image; and they were in the house of Micah.

⁵ And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod and teraphim and dedicated one of his sons, who became his priest.

⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ And there was a young man in Bethlehem of Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.

⁸ And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place, and as he journeyed he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah.

⁹ And Micah said to him, From where do you come? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

¹⁰ And Micah said to him, Dwell with me and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver each year, a suit of clothes, and your living. So the Levite went in.

¹¹ And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man was to Micah as one of his sons.

¹² And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah.

¹³ Then said Micah, Now I know that the Lord will favor me, since I have a Levite to be my priest.

1 In the second year of Darius king [of Persia], in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by means of Haggai the prophet [in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity] to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

² Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say, The time is not yet come that the ^[a]Lord’s house should be rebuilt [although Cyrus had ordered it done eighteen years before].^(A)

³ Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,

⁴ Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house [of the Lord] lies in ruins?

⁵ Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways and set your mind on what has come to you.

⁶ You have sown much, but you have reaped little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you do not have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages has earned them to put them in a bag with holes in it.

⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways (your previous and present conduct) and how you have fared.

⁸ Go up to the hill country and bring lumber and rebuild [My] house, and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, says the Lord [by accepting it as done for My glory and by displaying My glory in it].

⁹ You looked for much [harvest], and behold, it came to little; and even when you brought that home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of My house, which lies waste while you yourselves run each man to his own house [eager to build and adorn it].

¹⁰ Therefore the heavens above you [for your sake] withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its produce.

¹¹ And I have called for a drought upon the land and the hill country, upon the grain, the fresh wine, the oil, upon what the ground brings forth, upon men and cattle, and upon all the [wearisome] toil of [men’s] hands.

⁵⁴ Now upon hearing these things, they [the Jews] were cut to the heart and infuriated, and they ground their teeth against [Stephen].

⁵⁵ But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendor and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand;

⁵⁶ And he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand!

⁵⁷ But they raised a great shout and put their hands over their ears and rushed together upon him.

⁵⁸ Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.^(A)

⁵⁹ And while they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit!

⁶⁰ And falling on his knees, he cried out loudly, Lord, fix not this sin upon them [lay it not to their charge]! And when he had said this, he fell asleep ^[a][in death].

8 And Saul was [not only] consenting to [Stephen’s] death [he was ^[b]pleased and ^[c]entirely approving]. On that day a great and severe persecution broke out against the church which was in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles (special messengers).

² [A party of] devout men ^[d]with others helped to carry out and bury Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

³ But Saul shamefully treated and laid waste the church continuously [with cruelty and violence]; and entering house after house, he dragged out men and women and committed them to prison.