Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

145 (Tehillah of Dovid). [Alef} I will extol Thee, Elohai HaMelech; and I will bless Thy Shem l’olam va’ed .

² [Beis] Kol yom will I bless Thee; and I will praise Thy Shem l’olam va’ed.

³ [Gimel] Gadol is Hashem, and me’od to be praised; and His greatness is not cheker (searchable).

⁴ [Dalet] Dor l’dor (generation to generation) shall praise Thy ma’asim, and shall declare Thy gevurot (mighty acts).

⁵ [Heh] I will speak of the hadar kavod of Thy hod, and of Thy nifle’ot (wonderful works).

¹⁷ [Tzadi] Tzaddik is Hashem in all His drakhim, and chasid in all His ma’asim,

¹⁸ [Koph] Karov (near) is Hashem unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in emes.

¹⁹ [Resh] He will fulfil the ratzon of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry, and will save them.

²⁰ [Shin] Shomer is Hashem over all them that love Him; but kol haresha’im will He destroy.

²¹ [Tav] My mouth shall speak the tehillat Hashem; and let kol basar bless His Shem Kodesh l’olam va’ed. [T.N. See Messianic Psalms which include Ps 2, 22, 45, 72, 110, 47, 93, 96-99, 89 and which indicate Moshiach’s righteous character, experience, ideals, call, and reign.]

1 In the second year of Daryavesh HaMelech, in the sixth month, in yom echad of the month, came the Devar Hashem by Chaggai HaNavi unto Zerubavel ben Sh’altiel, Governor of Yehudah, and to Yehoshua ben Yehotzadak [i.e., the namesake of Moshiach, see Zech 6:11-12], the Kohen HaGadol, saying,

² Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os: This people say, The time is not come, the time that Beis Hashem should be built.

³ Then came the Devar Hashem by Chaggai HaNavi, saying,

⁴ Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your paneled batim, and this Beis [HaMikdash] lie in ruins?

⁵ Now therefore thus saith Hashem Tzva’os; Consider your ways.

⁶ Ye have sown harbeh (much), and bring in me’at (little); ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe yourselves, but there is no warming; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put them into a purse of holes.

⁷ Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os: Consider your ways.

⁸ Go up to the har (mountain), and bring etz, and build HaBeis [HaMikdash]; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Hashem.

⁹ Ye looked for harbeh (much), and, hinei, it came to me’at (little); and when ye brought it home, I blew it away. Why? saith Hashem Tva’os. Because of Mine Beis [HaMikdash] that is in ruins, and ye run every man for his own bais.

¹⁰ Therefore the Shomayim over you is stayed from dew, and Ha’Aretz is stayed from her fruit.

¹¹ And I called for a drought upon ha’aretz, and upon the harim (mountains), and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which ha’adamah bringeth forth, and upon ha’adam, and upon livestock, and upon all the labor of the hands.

¹² Then Zerubavel ben Sh’altiel, and Yehoshua ben Yehotzadak, the Kohen HaGadol, with kol she’erit HaAm, obeyed the voice of Hashem Eloheichem, and the words of Chaggi HaNavi, as Hashem Eloheichem had sent him, and the people did fear before Hashem.

¹³ Then spoke Chaggai malach Hashem with the message of Hashem unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith Hashem.

¹⁴ And Hashem stirred up the ruach of Zerubavel ben Sh’altiel, Governor of Yehudah, and the ruach of Yehoshua ben Yehotzadak, the Kohen HaGadol, and the ruach of kol she’erit HaAm; and they came and did work in the Beis [HaMikdash] of Hashem Tzva’os, Eloheichem,

¹⁵ In the four and twentieth yom of the sixth month, in the second year of Daryavesh HaMelech [520 B.C.E.].

20 And it came about on one of the yamim Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was saying shiurim to HaAm (the People) in the Beis Hamikdash and was preaching the Besuras HaGeulah, the Rashei Hakohanim and the Sofrim with the Ziknei HaAm stood by;

² They spoke, saying to him, Tell us by what shlita (authority) you do these things, or who is the one having given to you this shlita?

³ In reply, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said to them, I will also confront you will a she’elah, and you tell me:

⁴ The tevilah of teshuva of Yochanan—was it from Shomayim or from Bnei Adam?

⁵ And they reasoned to themselves saying, If we say, from Shomayim, he will say, why did you not believe him?

⁶ But if we say, from Bnei Adam, HaAm (the People) all will subject us to sequilah (stoning), for HaAm Yisroel are all convinced that Yochanan is a navi.

⁷ And they answered that they did not have daas of the origin of the tevilah of teshuva of Yochanan.

⁸ And Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach said to them, Neither am I telling you by what shlita (authority) I do these things.