Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God rules the world^[a]

The Lord will be good to his people

¹⁰ The Lord spoke again to Haggai, his prophet, on the 24th day of the ninth month, in the second year since Darius had become king. This was the Lord's message:

¹¹ The Almighty Lord says, ‘Ask the priests a question about my Law. ¹² A person might be carrying some special, holy meat in his clothes. His clothes might then touch some food. It might be bread, or soup, or wine, or oil. If the clothes that hold the holy meat touch any other food, does that other food also become holy?’ The priests replied, ‘No.’

¹³ Haggai asked the priests another question: ‘If anyone touches a dead body, you know that you become unclean. If an unclean person touches any of these foods, would they also become unclean?’ The priests replied, ‘Yes, those things would be unclean.’

¹⁴ So Haggai told them, ‘This is what the Lord says: This nation and its people are just like that. They are unclean. So everything that they do is also unclean. All the gifts that they offer to me are unclean. I could not accept them. ¹⁵ Think carefully what life was like before you started again to build the Lord's temple. Do not forget that. ¹⁶ In those days, you hoped to get 20 bags of grain from your fields. But you only got ten bags. You hoped to get 50 jars of wine from your grapes. But you only got 20 jars. ¹⁷ I sent bad weather and other problems to destroy all your crops. All your hard work came to nothing. But you still did not return to worship me, your Lord. ¹⁸ Remember today, the 24th day of the ninth month. You have started again to build my temple. Now you have built its foundation, think about what will happen from today. ¹⁹ You have already eaten the crops that you stored. The grapes, figs, pomegranates and olives are not yet ready for you to pick. But after today, I will bless you. You will have many good things.’^[a]

Peter himself saw how great Christ is

¹⁶ We told you that our Lord Jesus Christ is powerful. We also told you that he will return to earth again. We were not telling you false stories that came from people's clever ideas. Instead, we were telling you what we ourselves had seen. We ourselves saw that the Lord Jesus is very great. ^17-18 We were with him on the holy mountain when his Father God spoke to him.^[a] God gave honour to his Son, Jesus, and he said that Jesus is great. We ourselves heard God's voice speak to Jesus from heaven above where God rules with power. He said: ‘This is my Son and I love him. He makes me very happy.’

God's messages in the Bible are very important

¹⁹ As well as that, we have the prophets' messages from long ago. They also show us very clearly that these things are true. The prophets' words are like a light that shines in a dark place. That light continues to shine in the dark until the dawn comes. So you need to think about those messages carefully. Then the morning star will rise and it will bring light deep inside you.^{[b] 20} It is very important that you should understand this: The prophets' messages in the Bible did not come from their own ideas. That never happens. ²¹ None of the prophets' messages came because any person wanted to say something. Instead, God's Holy Spirit caused people to speak words that came from God.^[c]