Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁵ This was on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.

The Great New House of God

2 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Word of the Lord came by Haggai the man of God, saying, ² “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ruler of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the head religious leader, and to the rest of the people. Say to them, ³ ‘Who is left among you who saw this house of God as it was before in its greatness? And how does it look to you now? Is it anything like it was? ⁴ But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, head religious leader. And be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord. ‘Do the work, for I am with you,’ says the Lord of All. ⁵ ‘As I promised you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is with you. Do not be afraid.’ ⁶ For the Lord of All says, ‘Once again, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake all the nations so that the riches of all nations will come in. And I will fill this house with greatness,’ says the Lord of All. ⁸ ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of All. ⁹ ‘This house will be even greater than it was before,’ says the Lord of All. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of All.”

A Song of Praise

145 I will praise You, my God and King. I will honor Your name forever and ever. ² I will honor You every day, and praise Your name forever and ever. ³ The Lord is great and our praise to Him should be great. He is too great for anyone to understand. ⁴ Families of this time will praise Your works to the families-to-come. They will tell about Your powerful acts. ⁵ I will think about the shining-greatness of Your power and about Your great works.

¹⁷ The Lord is right and good in all His ways, and kind in all His works. ¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. ¹⁹ He will fill the desire of those who fear Him. He will also hear their cry and will save them. ²⁰ The Lord takes care of all who love Him. But He will destroy all the sinful. ²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord. And all flesh will honor His holy name forever and ever.

A Call to Praise the Lord

98 Sing a new song to the Lord. For He has done great things. His right hand and His holy arm have won the fight for Him. ² The Lord has made His saving power known. He has shown to the nations how right and good He is. ³ He has shown His loving-kindness and how beautiful He is to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of our God.

⁴ Call out for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Sing out loud songs of joy and sing praises. ⁵ Sing praises to the Lord with harps, with harps and the voice of singing. ⁶ Call out for joy with the sound of horns before the King, the Lord.

⁷ Let the sea and all that is in it make a loud noise, and the world and all who live in it. ⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the mountains sing together for joy ⁹ before the Lord. For He is coming to say who is guilty or not on the earth. He will be right in what He decides about the world. And He will be fair to the people.

Some People Will Believe a Lie

2 Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. We will be gathered together to meet Him. But we ask you, Christian brothers, ² do not be troubled in mind or worried by the talk you hear. Some say that the Lord has already come. People may say that I wrote this in a letter or that a spirit told them. ³ Do not let anyone fool you. For the Lord will not come again until many people turn away from God. Then the leader of those who break the law will come. He is the man of sin. ⁴ He works against and puts himself above every kind of god that is worshiped. He will take his seat in the house of God and say that he himself is God. ⁵ Do you not remember that while I was with you, I told you this?

You Belong to Those Who Believe the Truth

¹³ Christian brothers, the Lord loves you. We always thank God for you. It is because God has chosen you from the beginning to save you from the punishment of sin. He chose to make you holy by the Holy Spirit and to give you faith to believe the truth. ¹⁴ It was by our preaching the Good News that you were chosen. He chose you to share the shining-greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ So then, Christian brothers, keep a strong hold on what we have taught you by what we have said and by what we have written.

¹⁶ Our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father loves us. Through His loving-favor He gives us comfort and hope that lasts forever. ¹⁷ May He give your hearts comfort and strength to say and do every good thing.

They Ask about Being Raised from the Dead ^(A)

²⁷ Some people from the religious group who believe no one will be raised from the dead came to Jesus. They asked Him, ²⁸ “Teacher, Moses wrote to us in the Law, ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, then his brother must marry her. He should have children for his brother who died.’ ^{(B) 29} There were seven brothers. The first had a wife but died without children. ³⁰ The second brother took her for his wife. He died without children. ³¹ The third brother took her for his wife. In the same way all seven took her for a wife. They all died without children. ³² Then the woman died also. ³³ When people are raised from the dead, whose wife will she be? All seven brothers had her for a wife.”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, “People of this earth marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who have the right to have that life and are raised from the dead do not marry and are not given in marriage. ³⁶ They cannot die anymore. They are as the angels and are sons of God. They are children who have been raised from the dead. ³⁷ As for the dead being raised, even Moses spoke of that when he told of the burning bush. There he calls the Lord, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. ³⁸ For He is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living. All live for Him.”