Haggai 2:1-19

In the second year of King Darius, the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of YAHWEH happened through the prophet Haggai as follows, “Go and give this urgent message to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and all the remnant of the people: “Did anyone from among you see the magnificent glory of the original temple? And how does it look to you now? Does it not seem as nothing in your eyes? “I, YAHWEH say to you, Zerubbabel, be courageous! Joshua, son of Jehozadak, high priest, be courageous! All you living in the land, take heart! Go to work, for I am with you, says YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies. I, YAHWEH, will keep the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit is still present among you, so be fearless. “For I declare to you: Very soon, I, YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, will once again shake the heavens and earth, the land and sea. “I, YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, will shake every nation, and the treasures of the nations will flow in, and I will fill this temple with glory. “I, YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, declare to you, all the silver and gold is mine. “I, YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, declare to you, the glory of this new temple will surpass the glory of the original, and I will grant peace and prosperity in this place. “I, YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, have spoken.” In the second year of Darius, on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the word of YAHWEH was spoken to the prophet Haggai as follows: “I, YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, say to you: ‘Ask the priests for their ruling on this: If someone holds consecrated meat from a sacrifice and carries it in the fold of his priestly robe, could his robe then pass on holiness if it comes into contact with bread, stew, wine, olive oil, or any kind of food at all?’ ” “No,” the priests replied. Haggai then said, “If anyone is ritually unclean by contact with a corpse and touches any of these things, would it become unclean?” The priests replied, “Yes, it is unclean.” Then Haggai said, “So it is the same with this people. YAHWEH declares: ‘The nation is unclean in my eyes. Everything they produce is unclean to me, and everything they offer at the altar is also unclean.’ ” “Now consider carefully your recent past before you started rebuilding YAHWEH’s temple. Stop and remember what condition you were in. You would come expecting to scoop twenty measures of grain but find only ten. You would come expecting to draw fifty measures of wine from a vat but find only twenty. I struck the produce of your labor by sending hail, hot desert winds to wither your grain, and damp winds to make it rot. Yet you still would not return to me —declares YAHWEH. “Today is the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the day the people resumed the building of my temple. So be intentional from today forward. The seed is still in the storehouse, isn’t it? Until now, the grapevines, fig trees, pomegranate and olive trees have not produced a harvest, but from now on, I will certainly bless you, and your harvest will be plentiful.”