Old/New Testament

The Commission to Rebuild the Temple

1 In the ^(A)second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of ^[a]Yahweh came by the hand of ^(B)Haggai the prophet to ^(C)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ^(D)governor of Judah, and to ^(E)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ² “Thus says Yahweh of ^[b]hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of Yahweh to be rebuilt.”’” ³ Then the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying, ⁴ “Is it time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses while this house ^(F)lies waste?” ⁵ So now, thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Set your heart to consider your ways! ⁶ You have ^(G)sown much, but bring in little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is ^[c]not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

⁷ Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Set your heart to consider your ways! ⁸ Go up to the ^[d]mountains and bring wood and ^(H)rebuild the house of God, that I may be ^(I)pleased with it and be ^(J)glorified,” says Yahweh. ⁹ “^(K)You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; and you bring it home, and I ^(L)blow it away. Why?” declares Yahweh of hosts, “Because of My house which ^(M)lies waste, while each of you runs to his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore, because of you the ^(N)sky has restrained ^[e]its dew and the earth has restrained its produce. ¹¹ And I called for a ^[f](O)drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on ^(P)men, on cattle, and on ^(Q)all the labor of ^[g]your hands.”

¹² Then ^(R)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and ^(S)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, ^(T)listened to the voice of Yahweh their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yahweh their God had sent him. And the people ^(U)feared Yahweh. ¹³ Then Haggai, the ^(V)messenger of Yahweh, spoke by the commissioned message of Yahweh to the people saying, “‘^(W)I am with you,’ declares Yahweh.” ¹⁴ So Yahweh stirred up the spirit of ^(X)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ^(Y)governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the ^(Z)remnant of the people; and they came and ^(AA)did work on the house of Yahweh of hosts, their God, ¹⁵ on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.

The Glory of Yahweh Will Fill the Temple

2 On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of Yahweh came by the hand of ^(AB)Haggai the prophet saying, ² “Speak now to ^(AC)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ^(AD)governor of Judah, and to ^(AE)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the ^(AF)remnant of the people saying, ³ ‘Who among you ^(AG)remains who saw this house in its ^(AH)former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes? ⁴ But now, ^(AI)be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares Yahweh, ‘be strong also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land, be strong,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and work; for ^(AJ)I am with you,’ declares Yahweh of hosts. ⁵ ‘As for the ^[h](AK)promise which I cut with you when you came out of Egypt, ^[i]My ^(AL)Spirit is standing in your midst; ^(AM)do not fear!’ ⁶ For thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘^(AN)Once more—^[j]in a ^(AO)little while—I am going to ^(AP)shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. ⁷ And I will shake ^(AQ)all the nations; and ^[k]they will come with the ^(AR)desirable things of all nations, and I will ^(AS)fill this house with glory,’ says Yahweh of hosts. ⁸ ‘The ^(AT)silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ declares Yahweh of hosts. ⁹ ‘The latter ^(AU)glory of this house will be greater than the ^(AV)former,’ says Yahweh of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give ^(AW)peace,’ declares Yahweh of hosts.”

¹⁰ On the ^(AX)twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Haggai the prophet, saying, ¹¹ “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘^(AY)Ask now the priests about the law: ¹² If a man carries ^(AZ)holy meat in the ^[l]fold of his garment and touches bread with ^[m]this fold or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’” And the priests answered, “No.” ¹³ Then Haggai said, “^(BA)If one who is unclean from a ^[n]corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.” ¹⁴ Then Haggai answered and said, “‘^(BB)So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they bring near to Me there is unclean. ¹⁵ But now, ^(BC)oh set your heart to consider from this day ^[o]onward: from before one ^(BD)stone was set on another in the temple of Yahweh, ^16 [p]from when it was that one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, then there would be only ten; and from when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty troughs full, then there would be only twenty. ¹⁷ I struck you and every work of your hands with ^(BE)scorching wind, mildew, and hail; ^[q]yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares Yahweh. ¹⁸ ‘^(BF)Oh set your heart to consider from this day ^[r]onward, from the ^(BG)twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of Yahweh was ^(BH)founded, set your heart to consider: ¹⁹ Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will ^(BI)bless you.’”

Yahweh Chooses Zerubbabel

²⁰ Then the word of Yahweh came a second time to Haggai on the ^(BJ)twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, ²¹ “Speak to ^(BK)Zerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, ‘I am going to ^(BL)shake the heavens and the earth. ²² I will ^(BM)overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the ^(BN)strength of the kingdoms of the ^[s]nations; and I will ^(BO)overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the ^(BP)horses and their riders will go down, ^(BQ)everyone by the sword of another.’ ²³ ‘On that day,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will make you like a ^[t](BR)signet ring, for ^(BS)I have chosen you,’” declares Yahweh of hosts.

The Woman and the Beast

17 ^(A)Then one of the ^(B)seven angels who have the ^(C)seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you ^(D)the judgment of the ^(E)great harlot who ^(F)sits on many waters, ² with whom ^(G)the kings of the earth committed ^[a]sexual immorality, and ^(H)those who dwell on the earth were ^(I)made drunk with the wine of her ^[b]sexual immorality.” ³ And ^(J)he carried me away ^[c](K)in the Spirit ^(L)into a wilderness; then I saw a woman sitting on a ^(M)scarlet beast, full of ^(N)blasphemous names, having ^(O)seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ And the woman ^(P)was clothed in purple and scarlet, and ^[d]adorned with gold and precious ^[e]stones and pearls, having in her hand ^(Q)a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her ^[f]sexual immorality, ⁵ and on her forehead a name was written, a ^(R)mystery, “^(S)BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF ^(T)THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” ⁶ Then I saw the woman drunk with ^(U)the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered ^[g]greatly. ⁷ And the angel said to me, “Why ^[h]do you wonder? I will tell you the ^(V)mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the ^(W)seven heads and the ten horns.

⁸ “^(X)The beast that you saw ^(Y)was, and is not, and is about to ^(Z)come up out of the ^(AA)abyss and ^[i](AB)go to destruction. And ^(AC)those who dwell on the earth, ^(AD)whose name has not been written in the book of life ^(AE)from the foundation of the world, will ^(AF)wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. ^9 (AG)Here is the mind which has wisdom. The ^(AH)seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, ¹⁰ and they are seven ^(AI)kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. ¹¹ And the beast which ^(AJ)was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he ^(AK)goes to destruction. ¹² And the ^(AL)ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast ^(AM)for one hour. ¹³ These have ^(AN)one ^[j]purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴ These will wage ^(AO)war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will ^(AP)overcome them, because He is ^(AQ)Lord of lords and ^(AR)King of kings, and ^(AS)those who are with Him are the ^(AT)called and elect and faithful.”

¹⁵ And he *said to me, “The ^(AU)waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are ^(AV)peoples and crowds and nations and tongues. ¹⁶ And the ^(AW)ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will ^(AX)lay waste to her and make her ^(AY)naked, and will ^(AZ)eat her flesh and will ^(BA)burn her up with fire. ¹⁷ For ^(BB)God gave it in their hearts to do His ^[k]purpose both ^[l]by ^(BC)doing their own common purpose and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the ^(BD)words of God will be finished. ¹⁸ And the woman whom you saw is ^(BE)the great city, which has a kingdom over the kings of the earth.”