The Daily Audio Bible

1 In the second year of Daryavesh the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the following word of Adonai came through Hagai the prophet to Z’rubavel the son of Sh’alti’el, governor of Y’hudah, and to Y’hoshua the son of Y’hotzadak, the cohen hagadol: ² “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘This people is saying that now isn’t the time — the time hasn’t yet arrived for Adonai’s house to be rebuilt.’”

³ Then this word of Adonai came through Hagai the prophet: ⁴ “So is now the time for you to be living in your own paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? ⁵ Therefore here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says:

⁷ “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘Think about your life! ⁸ Go up into the hills, get wood, and rebuild the house. I will be pleased with that, and then I will be glorified,’ says Adonai. ⁹ ‘You looked for much, but it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?’ asks Adonai-Tzva’ot. ‘Because my house lies in ruins, while every one of you runs to take care of his own house. ¹⁰ This is why the sky above you has withheld the dew, so that there is none, and the land withholds its yield. ¹¹ In fact, I called for a drought on the land and on the hills, on the grain, the wine and the olive oil, on what the ground brings up, on men, animals and on all that hands produce.’”

¹² Then Z’rubavel the son of Sh’alti’el and Y’hoshua the son of Y’hotzadak, the cohen hagadol, with all the rest of the people, paid attention to what Adonai their God had said and to the words of Hagai the prophet; since Adonai their God had sent him; and the people were filled with fear in the presence of Adonai. ¹³ Hagai the messenger of Adonai conveyed this message of Adonai to the people: “‘I am with you,’ says Adonai.”

¹⁴ Adonai roused the spirit of Z’rubavel the son of Sh’alti’el, governor of Y’hudah, and the spirit of Y’hoshua the son of Y’hotzadak, the cohen hagadol, and the spirits of all the rest of the people; so that they came and began to work on the house of Adonai-Tzva’ot their God. ¹⁵ This was on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of the second year of Daryavesh the king.

2 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, this word of Adonai came through Hagai the prophet: ² “Speak now to Z’rubavel the son of Sh’alti’el, governor of Y’hudah, and to Y’hoshua the son of Y’hotzadak, the cohen hagadol, and to the rest of the people; say this to them: ³ ‘“Who among you is left that saw this house in its former glory? And how does it look to you now? It seems like nothing to you, doesn’t it? ⁴ Nevertheless, Z’rubavel, take courage now,” says Adonai; “and take courage, Y’hoshua the son of Y’hotzadak, the cohen hagadol; and take courage, all you people of the land,” says Adonai; “and get to work! For I am with you,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. ⁵ “This is in keeping with the word that I promised in a covenant with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit remains with you, so don’t be afraid!” ⁶ For this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: “It won’t be long before one more time I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land; ⁷ and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasures of all the nations will flow in; and I will fill this house with glory,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. ⁸ “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. ⁹ “The glory of this new house will surpass that of the old,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “and in this place I will grant shalom,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.’”

¹⁰ On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the second year of Daryavesh, this word of Adonai came through Hagai the prophet: ¹¹ “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘Ask the cohanim what the Torah says about this: ¹² if someone carries meat that has been set aside as holy in a fold of his cloak; and then he lets his cloak touch bread, stew, wine, olive oil or any other food; does that food become holy too?’” The cohanim answered, “No.” ¹³ Then Hagai asked, “If someone who is unclean from having had contact with a corpse touches any of these [food items], will they become unclean?” The cohanim answered, “They become unclean.” ¹⁴ Hagai then said, “‘That is the condition of this people, that is the condition of this nation before me,’ says Adonai, ‘and that is the condition of everything their hands produce; so that anything they offer there is unclean. ¹⁵ Now, please, from this day on, keep this in mind: before you began laying stones on each other to rebuild the temple of Adonai, ¹⁶ throughout that whole time, when someone approached a twenty-measure pile [of grain], he found only ten; and when he came to the winepress to draw out fifty measures, there were only twenty. ¹⁷ I struck you with blasting winds, mildew and hail on everything your hands produced; but you still wouldn’t return to me,’ says Adonai. ¹⁸ ‘So please keep this in mind, from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of Adonai’s temple was laid, consider this: ¹⁹ there’s no longer any seed in the barn, is there? and the vine, fig tree, pomegranate tree and olive tree have produced nothing yet, right? However, from this day on, I will bless you.’”

²⁰ The word of Adonai came a second time to Hagai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, as follows: ²¹ “Tell Z’rubavel, governor of Y’hudah, ‘I will shake the heavens and the earth, ²² I will overturn the thrones of kingdoms, I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and I will overturn the chariots and the people riding in them; the horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother. ²³ When that day comes,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot, ‘I will take you, Z’rubavel, my servant, the son of Sh’alti’el,’ says Adonai, ‘and wear you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot.”

11 I was given a measuring rod like a stick and told, “Get up, and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count how many people are worshipping there! ² But the court outside the Temple, leave that out; don’t measure it; because it has been given to the Goyim, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months.

³ “Also I will give power to my two witnesses; and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.” ⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two menorahs standing before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone tries to do them harm, fire comes out of their mouth and consumes their enemies — yes, if anyone tries to harm them, that is how he must die. ⁶ They have the authority to shut up the sky, so that no rain falls during the period of their prophesying; also they have the authority to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

⁷ When they finish their witnessing, the beast coming up out of the Abyss will fight against them, overcome them and kill them; ⁸ and their dead bodies will lie in the main street of the great city whose name, to reflect its spiritual condition, is “S’dom” and “Egypt” — the city where their Lord was executed on a stake. ⁹ Some from the nations, tribes, languages and peoples see their bodies for three-and-a-half days and do not permit the corpses to be placed in a tomb. ¹⁰ The people living in the Land rejoice over them, they celebrate and send each other gifts, because these two prophets tormented them so.

¹¹ But after the three-and-a-half days a breath of life from God entered them, they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. ¹² Then the two heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up into heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them. ¹³ In that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were awestruck and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second woe has passed; see, the third woe is coming quickly

¹⁵ The seventh angel sounded his shofar; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,

¹⁶ The twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones in God’s presence fell on their faces and worshipped God, ¹⁷ saying,

¹⁹ Then the Temple of God in heaven was opened, and the Ark of the Covenant was seen in his Temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake and violent hail.