Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Call to Praise the Lord for His Righteousness.

A Psalm.

¹⁰ On the ^(A)twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying, ¹¹ “The Lord of armies says this: ‘^(B)Now ask the priests for a ^[a]ruling: ¹² If someone carries ^(C)holy meat in the ^[b]fold of his garment, and touches bread with ^[c]this fold, or touches cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’” And the priests answered, “No.” ¹³ Then Haggai said, “^(D)If one who is unclean from a ^[d]corpse touches any of these things, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.” ¹⁴ Then Haggai responded and said, “‘^(E)So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. ¹⁵ But now, do ^[e](F)consider from this day ^[f]onward: before one ^(G)stone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord, ^16 [g]from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty ^[h]measures, there would be only twenty. ¹⁷ I struck you and every work of your hands with ^(H)scorching wind, mildew, and hail; ^[i]yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘Do ^[j](I)consider from this day ^[k]onward, from the ^(J)twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the Lord was ^(K)founded, ^[l]consider: ¹⁹ Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, it has not produced fruit. Yet from this day on I will ^(L)bless you.’”

Eyewitnesses

¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly devised ^(A)tales when we made known to you the ^(B)power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were ^(C)eyewitnesses of His majesty. ¹⁷ For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such a ^[a](D)declaration as this was made to Him by the ^(E)Majestic Glory: “This is ^[b]My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased”— ¹⁸ and we ourselves heard this ^[c]declaration made from heaven when we were with Him on the ^(F)holy mountain.

¹⁹ And so we have ^(G)the prophetic word made more ^(H)sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to ^(I)a lamp shining in a dark place, until the ^(J)day dawns and the ^(K)morning star arises ^(L)in your hearts. ²⁰ But ^(M)know this first of all, that ^(N)no prophecy of Scripture ^[d]becomes a matter of ^[e]someone’s own interpretation, ²¹ for ^(O)no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men ^(P)moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.