Haggai 1–2 · Zechariah 1–2

1In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

2“This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for Yahweh’s house to be built.’”

3Then Yahweh’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

4“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?

5Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Consider your ways.

6You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.’

7“This is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Consider your ways.

8Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” says Yahweh.

9“You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says Yahweh of Armies, “Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.

10Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.

11I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground produces, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands.”

12Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed Yahweh their God’s voice, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yahweh their God had sent him; and the people feared Yahweh.

13Then Haggai, Yahweh’s messenger, spoke Yahweh’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you,” says Yahweh.

14Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of Armies, their God,

15in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

1In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

2“Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying,

3‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn’t it in your eyes as nothing?

4Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says Yahweh. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ says Yahweh, ‘and work, for I am with you,’ says Yahweh of Armies.

5This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. ‘Don’t be afraid.’

6For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Yet once more, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;

7and I will shake all nations. The treasure of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies.

8The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,’ says Yahweh of Armies.

9‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says Yahweh of Armies; ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ says Yahweh of Armies.”

10In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

11“Yahweh of Armies says: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

12‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy?’” The priests answered, “No.”

13Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”

14Then Haggai answered, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before me,’ says Yahweh; ‘and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean.

15Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in Yahweh’s temple.

16Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty.

17I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to me,’ says Yahweh.

18‘Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was laid, consider it.

19Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven’t produced. From today I will bless you.’”

20Yahweh’s word came the second time to Haggai in the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying,

21“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‘I will shake the heavens and the earth.

22I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother.

23In that day, says Yahweh of Armies, I will take you, Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says Yahweh, ‘and will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ says Yahweh of Armies.”

1In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

2“Yahweh was very displeased with your fathers.

3Therefore tell them, Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies.

4Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear nor listen to me, says Yahweh.

5Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

6But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’”

7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

8“I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses.

9Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”

10The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth.”

11They reported to Yahweh’s angel who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace.”

12Then Yahweh’s angel replied, “O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”

13Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words.

14So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

15I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.”

16Therefore Yahweh says: “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and a line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.”’

17“Proclaim further, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”’”

18I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns.

19I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

20Yahweh showed me four craftsmen.

21Then I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

1I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.

2Then I asked, “Where are you going?” He said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.”

3Behold, the angel who talked with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him,

4and said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it.

5For I,’ says Yahweh, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her.

6Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says Yahweh.

7‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.’

8For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.

9For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me.

10Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion! For behold, I come and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh.

11Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you.

12Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

13Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”