Beginning

1 In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, the first day of the month, came the Word of the LORD (by the ministry of the Prophet Haggai) to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, a prince of Judah, and to Jehoshua, the son of Jehozadak the High Priest, saying,

² “Thus speaks the LORD of Hosts, saying: ‘This people says the time has not yet come that the LORD’s House should be built.’”

³ Then came the Word of the LORD by the ministry of the Prophet Haggai, saying:

⁴ “Is it time for yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this House lies waste?

⁵ “Now therefore, thus says the LORD of Hosts: ‘Consider your own ways in your hearts.

⁶ ‘You have sown much and bring in little. You eat but you do not have enough. You drink but you are not filled. You clothe yourself but you are not warm. And he who earns wages puts the wages into a broken bag.’

⁷ “Thus says the LORD of Hosts: ‘Consider your own ways in your hearts.

⁸ ‘Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build this House. And I will be favorable in it. And I will be glorified,’ says the LORD.

⁹ ‘You looked for much. And lo, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew upon it. And why—' says the LORD of Hosts, ‘because of My House that is desolate. And you turn every man to his own house.

¹⁰ ‘Therefore, the sky above you stopped itself from dew. And the earth stopped her fruit.

¹¹ ‘And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, upon all that the ground brings forth, upon men and upon cattle and upon all the labor of the hands.’”

¹² When Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak the high Priest, with all the remnant of the people, heard the voice of the LORD their God and the Words of the Prophet Haggai (as the LORD their God had sent him), then the people feared before the LORD.

¹³ Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, spoke the LORD’s message to the people, saying, “‘I am with you,’ says the LORD.”

¹⁴ And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, a prince of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak the high Priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and did the work in the House of the LORD of Hosts, their God,

¹⁵ on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

2 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, came the Word of the LORD by the ministry of the Prophet Haggai, saying:

² “Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, prince of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak the High Priest, and to the rest of the people, saying,

³ ‘Who is left among you who saw this House in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem as nothing in your eyes by comparison?

⁴ ‘Yet now, be of good courage, O Zerubbabel!’ says the LORD, ‘And be of good comfort, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak the High Priest. And be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the LORD, ‘and do it. For I am with you,’ says the LORD of Hosts.

⁵ ‘According to the Word that I Covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit shall remain among you. Do not fear!’

⁶ “For thus says the LORD of Hosts: “Yet a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the Earth and the sea and the dry land.

⁷ ‘And I will move all nations. And the desire of all nations shall come. And I will fill this House with Glory,’ says the LORD of Hosts.

⁸ ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of Hosts.

⁹ ‘The Glory of this last House shall be greater than the first,’ says the LORD of Hosts, ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of Hosts.”

¹⁰ On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the Word of the LORD came to the Prophet Haggai, saying,

¹¹ “Thus says the LORD of Hosts: ‘Ask the priests now concerning the Law, and say,

¹² “If one carries holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt he touches the bread or the pottage or the wine or oil or any food, shall it be holy?”’” And the priests answered and said, “No.”

¹³ Then Haggai said, “If a polluted person touches any of these, shall it be unclean?” And the priests answered, and said, “It shall be unclean.”

¹⁴ Then Haggai answered, and said, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the LORD, ‘And so are all the works of their hands. And that which they offer here is unclean.

¹⁵ ‘And now, please consider in your minds from this day forward: before a stone was laid upon a stone in the Temple of the LORD,

¹⁶ ‘before these things were, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress, to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.

¹⁷ ‘I struck you with blight, and with mildew, and with hail, in all the labors of your hands. Yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the LORD.

¹⁸ ‘Please consider in your minds from this day forward—from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the LORD’s Temple was laid—consider it in your minds:

¹⁹ ‘Is the seed still in the barn? As yet, the vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate and the olive tree have not brought forth fruit. From this day I will bless you.’”

²⁰ And again the Word of the LORD came to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying,

²¹ “Speak to Zerubbabel, the prince of Judah, and say, ‘I will shake the heavens and the Earth!

²² ‘And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. And I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen. And I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them. And the horse and the riders shall come down, each one by the sword of his brother.

²³ ‘At that time,’ says the LORD of Hosts, ‘I will take you, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says the LORD, ‘and will make you as a signet! For I have chosen you,’ says the LORD of Hosts.”