Old/New Testament

God’s Command to Rebuild the Temple

1 In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

² Thus says the Lord of Hosts: These people say, The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.

³ Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: ⁴ Is it time for you yourselves to live in paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

⁵ Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of Hosts: Consider your ways. ⁶ You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes.

⁷ Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Consider your ways. ⁸ Go up to the mountain and bring wood and rebuild the house, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord. ⁹ You looked for much, and it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of Hosts. Because of My house that lies in ruins while each of you runs to his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its crops. ¹¹ I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.

The People Obey God’s Command

¹² Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.

¹³ Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke the message of the Lord 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, governor 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 worked on 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.

The Future Glory of the Temple

2 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: ² Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, saying: ³ Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not, in your eyes, as nothing in comparison? ⁴ Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong all you people of the land, says the Lord. Work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Hosts. ⁵ According to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.

⁶ For thus says the Lord of Hosts: Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and earth, the sea and dry land. ⁷ And I will shake all the nations, and they will come with the wealth of all nations, 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 latter house will be greater than the former, says the Lord of Hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of Hosts.

Blessings on a Defiled People

¹⁰ On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: ¹¹ Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Now ask the priests concerning the law, saying, ¹² If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches with his fold bread or stew, or wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?

The priests answered, “No.”

¹³ Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, will it become unclean?”

The priests answered, “It will become unclean.”

¹⁴ Then Haggai said, So it is with this people, and so it is with this nation before Me, says the Lord, and so with every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.

¹⁵ Now consider from this day onward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord, ¹⁶ from those days when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. ¹⁷ I struck you and all the labor of your hands with blight and mildew and hail; yet you did not turn to Me. ¹⁸ Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day when the foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid, consider: ¹⁹ Is the seed yet in the barn? As of yet, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing.

But from this day on I will bless you.

The Promise of God to Zerubbabel

²⁰ The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month: ²¹ Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth. ²² I will overthrow the throne of the kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots and their riders. The horses and their riders will come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

²³ On that day, says the Lord of Hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and I will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the Lord of Hosts.

The Great Harlot and the Beast

17 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, ² with whom the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her sexual immorality.”

³ Then he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filth of her sexual immorality. ⁵ On her forehead a name was written:

MYSTERY,
BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

⁶ I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

When I saw her, I marveled greatly. ⁷ Then the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. ⁸ The beast, which you saw, was, and is not, and is to ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to destruction. Those who dwell on the earth whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see the beast that was, and is not, and is to come.

⁹ “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. ¹⁰ They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. ¹¹ Concerning the beast who was, and is not, he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to destruction.

¹² “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom yet, but they will receive authority as kings for one hour with the beast. ¹³ These are of one mind and will give their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴ These will wage war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those who are with Him are called and chosen and faithful.”

¹⁵ Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. ¹⁶ These ten horns and the beast which you saw will hate the prostitute; they will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh, and burn her with fire. ¹⁷ For God has put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. ¹⁸ The woman whom you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”