The Lord’s House Will Be Rebuilt

4 The angel who was speaking with me returned and woke me up as one might wake up someone who is sleeping. ² He asked me, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a solid gold lamp stand with a bowl on top and seven lamps on it. There are seven spouts for each lamp that is on top of it. ³ There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

⁴ I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What do these things mean, sir?”

⁵ Then the angel asked me, “Don’t you know what they mean?”

“No, sir,” I answered.

⁶ Then he replied, “This is the word the Lord spoke to Zerubbabel: You won’t ⌞succeed⌟ by might or by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Armies. ⁷ What a high mountain you are! In front of Zerubbabel you will become a plain. He will bring out the topmost stone with shouts of ‘Blessings, blessings on it!’ ”

⁸ Then the Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ⁹ “Zerubbabel’s hands have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me to you. ¹⁰ Who despised the day when little things began to happen? They will be delighted when they see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand. (These seven eyes of the Lord roam over all the earth.)”

¹¹ I asked the angel, “What do these two olive trees at the right and the left of the lamp stand mean?” ¹² Again I asked him, “What is the meaning of the two branches from the olive trees next to the two golden pipes that are pouring out gold?”

¹³ He asked me, “Don’t you know what these things mean?”

“No, sir,” I answered.

¹⁴ So he said, “These are the two anointed ones who are standing beside the Lord of the whole earth.”

Sinners Will Be Separated from the Lord’s People

5 I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.

² The angel asked me, “What do you see?”

“I see a flying scroll,” I answered. “It’s 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.”

³ Then he said to me, “This is a curse that will go out all over the earth. The one side of the scroll says that every thief will be forced away. The other side of the scroll says that everyone who takes an oath will be forced away. ⁴ I will send out a curse, declares the Lord of Armies, and it will enter the houses of thieves and the houses of those who take oaths in my name. It will stay in their houses and destroy the timber and stone.”

Wickedness Will Be Removed from the Land

⁵ The angel who was speaking with me came forward. He said, “Look up, and see what’s coming.”

⁶ “What is it?” I asked.

“A basket is coming,” he said. Then he added, “This is what the people’s sins look like all over the earth.” ^{[a] 7} A lead cover ⌞on the basket⌟ was raised, and a woman was sitting in the basket. ⁸ The angel said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and forced the lead cover down on top of it.

⁹ I looked up and saw two women coming forward with wind in their wings. They had wings like those of a stork. They carried the basket into the sky.

¹⁰ I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

¹¹ He answered me, “They are going to build a house for it in Shinar [Babylonia]. When the house is ready, they will set the basket there on a stand.”

Paul’s Desire to Tell the Good News to the World

¹⁴ I’m convinced, brothers and sisters, that you, too, are filled with goodness. I’m also convinced that you have all the knowledge you need and that you are able to instruct each other. ¹⁵ However, I’ve written you a letter, parts of which are rather bold, as a reminder to you. I’m doing this because God gave me the gift ¹⁶ to be a servant of Christ Jesus to people who are not Jewish. I serve as a priest by spreading the Good News of God. I do this in order that I might bring the nations to God as an acceptable offering, made holy by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ So Christ Jesus gives me the right to brag about what I’m doing for God. ¹⁸ I’m bold enough to tell you only what Christ has done through me to bring people who are not Jewish to obedience. By what I have said and done, ¹⁹ by the power of miraculous and amazing signs, and by the power of God’s Spirit, I have finished spreading the Good News about Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum.

²⁰ My goal was to spread the Good News where the name of Christ was not known. I didn’t want to build on a foundation which others had laid. ²¹ As Scripture says,

²² This is what has so often kept me from visiting you. ²³ But now I have no new opportunities for work in this region. For many years I have wanted to visit you. ²⁴ Now I am on my way to Spain, so I hope to see you when I come your way. After I have enjoyed your company for a while, I hope that you will support my trip to Spain.

²⁵ Right now I’m going to Jerusalem to bring help to the Christians there. ²⁶ Because the believers in Macedonia and Greece owe a debt to the Christians in Jerusalem, they have decided to take up a collection for the poor among the Christians in Jerusalem. ²⁷ These Macedonians and Greeks have shared the spiritual wealth of the Christians in Jerusalem. So they are obligated to use their earthly wealth to help them.

²⁸ When the collection is completed and I have officially turned the money over to the Christians in Jerusalem, I will visit you on my way to Spain. ²⁹ I know that when I come to you I will bring the full blessing of Christ.

³⁰ Brothers and sisters, I encourage you through our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit creates, to join me in my struggle. Pray to God for me ³¹ that I will be rescued from those people in Judea who refuse to believe. Pray that God’s people in Jerusalem will accept the help I bring. ³² Also pray that by the will of God I may come to you with joy and be refreshed when I am with you.

³³ May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.