Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

^14-15 And the Lord gave them a desire to rebuild his Temple; so they all gathered in early September of the second year of King Darius’s reign and volunteered their help.

2 In early October of the same year, the Lord sent them this message through Haggai:

² “Ask this question of the governor and High Priest and everyone left in the land:

³ “‘Who among you can remember the Temple as it was before? How glorious it was! In comparison, it is nothing now, is it? ⁴ But take courage, O Zerubbabel and Joshua and all the people; take courage and work, for I am with you, says the Lord Almighty. ⁵ For I promised when you left Egypt that my Spirit would remain among you; so don’t be afraid.’

⁶ “For the Lord Almighty says, ‘In just a little while I will begin to shake the heavens and earth—and the oceans, too, and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake all nations, and the Desire of All Nations^[a] shall come to this Temple, and I will fill this place with my glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ^8-9 ‘The future splendor of this Temple will be greater than the splendor of the first one! For I have plenty of silver and gold to do it! And here I will give peace,’^[b] says the Lord.”

145 ^1-2 I will praise you, my God and King, and bless your name each day and forever.

³ Great is Jehovah! Greatly praise him! His greatness is beyond discovery! ⁴ Let each generation tell its children what glorious things he does. ⁵ I will meditate about your glory, splendor, majesty, and miracles.

¹⁷ The Lord is fair in everything he does and full of kindness. ¹⁸ He is close to all who call on him sincerely. ¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who reverence and trust him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. ²⁰ He protects all those who love him, but destroys the wicked.

²¹ I will praise the Lord and call on all men everywhere to bless his holy name forever and forever.

98 Sing a new song to the Lord telling about his mighty deeds! For he has won a mighty victory by his power and holiness. ^2-3 He has announced this victory and revealed it to every nation by fulfilling his promise to be kind to Israel. The whole earth has seen God’s salvation of his people. ⁴ That is why the earth breaks out in praise to God and sings for utter joy!

⁵ Sing your praise accompanied by music from the harp. ⁶ Let the cornets and trumpets shout! Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King! ⁷ Let the sea in all its vastness roar with praise! Let the earth and all those living on it shout, “Glory to the Lord.”

^8-9 Let the waves clap their hands in glee and the hills sing out their songs of joy before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the world with perfect justice.

2 ^1-2 And now, what about the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to meet him? Please don’t be upset and excited, dear brothers, by the rumor that this day of the Lord has already begun. If you hear of people having visions and special messages from God about this, or letters that are supposed to have come from me, don’t believe them. ³ Don’t be carried away and deceived regardless of what they say.

For that day will not come until two things happen: first, there will be a time of great rebellion against God, and then the man of rebellion will come—the son of hell. ⁴ He will defy every god there is and tear down every other object of adoration and worship. He will go in and sit as God in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God. ⁵ Don’t you remember that I told you this when I was with you?

¹³ But we must forever give thanks to God for you, our brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose from the very first to give you salvation,^[a] cleansing you by the work of the Holy Spirit and by your trusting in the Truth. ¹⁴ Through us he told you the Good News. Through us he called you to share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵ With all these things in mind, dear brothers, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the truth that we taught you in our letters and during the time we were with you.

¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting comfort and hope, which we don’t deserve, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts with all comfort, and help you in every good thing you say and do.

²⁷ Then some Sadducees—men who believed that death is the end of existence, that there is no resurrection— ²⁸ came to Jesus with this:

“The laws of Moses state that if a man dies without children, the man’s brother shall marry the widow, and their children will legally belong to the dead man, to carry on his name. ²⁹ We know of a family of seven brothers. The oldest married and then died without any children. ³⁰ His brother married the widow and he, too, died. Still no children. ³¹ And so it went, one after the other, until each of the seven had married her and died, leaving no children. ³² Finally the woman died also. ³³ Now here is our question: Whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all of them were married to her!”

^34-35 Jesus replied, “Marriage is for people here on earth, but when those who are counted worthy of being raised from the dead get to heaven, they do not marry. ³⁶ And they never die again; in these respects they are like angels, and are sons of God, for they are raised up in new life from the dead.

^37-38 “But as to your real question—whether or not there is a resurrection—why, even the writings of Moses himself prove this. For when he describes how God appeared to him in the burning bush, he speaks of God as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ To say that the Lord is some person’s God^[a] means that person is alive, not dead! So from God’s point of view, all men are living.”