Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

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.

The People Are Unclean

¹⁰ On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius, the Word of the Lord came to Haggai the man of God, saying, ¹¹ “The Lord of All says, ‘Ask the religious leaders to decide about this: ¹² If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his clothing, and this fold touches bread or hot food, or wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’” The religious leaders answered and said, “No.” ¹³ Then Haggai said, “If a man is unclean because he touched a dead body and touches any of these, will it become unclean?” And the religious leaders answered and said, “It will become unclean.”

The Lord Promises Good to Come to His People

¹⁴ Then Haggai said, “‘So are these people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the Lord. ‘And so is everything they have made. What they give there is unclean. ¹⁵ Now think about this from this day on. Think about how things were before one stone was placed on another in the house of the Lord. ¹⁶ When anyone came to a place where there were twenty baskets of grain, there would be only ten. When anyone came to a place to get fifty bottles of wine, there would be only twenty. ¹⁷ I destroyed you and everything you did with a strong-wind, disease, and hail. Yet you did not return to Me,’ says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘Think about this from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day when the base of the Lord’s house was laid, think about this: ¹⁹ Is the seed still in the store-house? The vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not given any fruit. Yet from this day on I will bring good to you.’”

¹⁶ We had nothing to do with man-made stories when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and of His coming again. We have seen His great power with our own eyes. ¹⁷ When He received honor and shining-greatness from God the Father, a voice came to Him from the All-powerful God, saying, “This is My much-loved Son. I am very happy with Him.” ¹⁸ We heard this voice come from heaven when we were with Christ on the holy mountain.

¹⁹ All this helps us know that what the early preachers said was true. You will do well to listen to what they have said. Their words are as lights that shine in a dark place. Listen until you understand what they have said. Then it will be like the morning light which takes away the darkness. And the Morning Star (Christ) will rise to shine in your hearts.

²⁰ Understand this first: No part of the Holy Writings was ever made up by any man. ²¹ No part of the Holy Writings came long ago because of what man wanted to write. But holy men who belonged to God spoke what the Holy Spirit told them.