Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁵ So they began this work on the 24th day of the sixth month in the second year Darius was the king.

The Lord Encourages the People

2 On the 21st day of the seventh month, this message from the Lord came to Haggai: ² “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the people. Say this: ³ ‘How many of you people look at this Temple and try to compare it to the beautiful Temple that was destroyed? What do you think? Does this Temple seem like nothing when you compare it with the first Temple? ⁴ But the Lord says, “Zerubbabel, don’t be discouraged!” And the Lord says, “Joshua son of Jehozadak, you are the high priest. Don’t be discouraged! And all you people who live in the land, don’t be discouraged! Continue this work, because I am with you.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.

⁵ “‘I made an agreement with you when you left Egypt, and I have kept my promise. My Spirit is with you, so don’t be afraid!’ ⁶ This is what the Lord All-Powerful said, ‘In just a little while, I will once again shake things up. I will shake heaven and earth, and I will shake the sea and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake up the nations, and they will come to you with wealth from every nation. And then I will fill this Temple with glory.’ That is what the Lord All-Powerful said! ⁸ ‘All their silver really belongs to me! And all the gold is mine!’ This is what the Lord All-Powerful said. ⁹ And the Lord All-Powerful said, ‘This last Temple will be more beautiful than the first one, and I will bring peace to this place.’ Remember, this is what the Lord All-Powerful said.”

A song of David.

A song of praise.

Evil Things Will Happen

2 Brothers and sisters, we have something to say about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to talk to you about that time when we will meet together with him. ² Don’t let yourselves be easily upset or worried if you hear that the day of the Lord has already come. Someone might say that this idea came from us—in something the Spirit told us, or in something we said, or in a letter we wrote. ³ Don’t be fooled by anything they might say. That day of the Lord will not come until the turning away from God happens. And that day will not come until the Man of Evil appears, the one who belongs to hell.^{[a] 4} He will stand against and put himself above everything that people worship or think is worthy of worship. He will even go into God’s Temple^[b] and sit there, claiming that he is God.

⁵ I told you before that all these things would happen. Remember?

You Are Chosen for Salvation

¹³ Brothers and sisters, you are people the Lord loves. And we always thank God for you. That’s what we should do, because God chose you to be some of the first people^[a] to be saved. You are saved by the Spirit making you holy and by your faith in the truth. ¹⁴ God chose you to have that salvation. He chose you by using the Good News that we told you. You were chosen so that you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ So, brothers and sisters, stand strong and continue to believe the teachings we gave you when we were there and by letter.

^16-17 We pray that the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father will comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. God loved us and gave us through his grace a wonderful hope and comfort that has no end.

Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus^(A)

²⁷ Some Sadducees came to Jesus. (Sadducees believe that people will not rise from death.) They asked him, ²⁸ “Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and had no children, his brother must marry his widow. Then they will have children for the dead brother.^{[a] 29} One time there were seven brothers. The first brother married a woman but died. He had no children. ³⁰ Then the second brother married the woman, and he died. ³¹ And the third brother married the woman, and he died. The same thing happened with all the other brothers. They all died and had no children. ³² The woman was the last to die. ³³ But all seven brothers married her. So when people rise from death, whose wife will this woman be?”

³⁴ Jesus said to the Sadducees, “On earth, people marry each other. ³⁵ Some people will be worthy to be raised from death and live again after this life. In that life they will not marry. ³⁶ In that life people are like angels and cannot die. They are children of God, because they have been raised from death. ³⁷ Moses clearly showed that people are raised from death. When Moses wrote about the burning bush,^[b] he said that the Lord is ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’^{[c] 38} So they were not still dead, because he is the God only of living people. Yes, to God they are all still living.”