Time to Rebuild the Temple

Chapter 1

¹In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, this word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:

²Thus said the Lord of Hosts: These people say, “The time has not yet come for rebuilding the House of the Lord.” [ . . . ]

⁴Is it a time for you to dwell in your paneled houses, while this House is lying in ruins? ⁵Now thus said the Lord of Hosts: Consider how you have been faring! ⁶You have sowed much and brought in little; you eat without being satisfied; you drink without getting your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one gets warm; and he who earns anything earns it for a leaky purse.

^7aThus said the Lord of Hosts: Consider how you have fared: ⁸Go up to the hills and get timber, and rebuild the House; then I will look on it with favor and I will be glorified—said the Lord.

⁹You have been expecting much and getting little [ . . . ]. Because of what?—says the Lord of Hosts. Because of My House which lies in ruins, while you all hurry to your own houses! ¹⁰That is why the skies above you have withheld [their] moisture and the earth has withheld its yield, ¹¹and I have summoned fierce heat upon the land—upon the hills, upon the new grain and wine and oil, upon all that the ground produces, upon man and beast, and upon all the fruits of labor.

¹²Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak and all the rest of the people gave heed to the summons of the Lord their God and to the words of the prophet Haggai, when the Lord their God sent him; the people feared the Lord. [ . . . ]

Chapter 2

¹[ . . . T]he word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai:

²Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to the high priest Joshua son of Jehoza-dak, and to the rest of the people: ³Who is there left among you who saw this House in its former splendor? How does it look to you now? It must seem like nothing to you. ⁴But be strong [ . . . ] and act! [ . . . ]

⁶[ . . . ] In just a little while longer I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land; ⁷I will shake all the nations. And the precious things of all the nations shall come [here], and I will fill this House with glory, said the Lord of Hosts. [ . . . ] ⁹The glory of this latter House shall be greater than that of the former one, said the Lord of Hosts; and in this place I will grant prosperity—declares the Lord of Hosts. [ . . . ]

²⁰And the word of the Lord came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: ²¹Speak to Zerubbabel the governor of Judah: I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. ²²And I will overturn the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the might of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overturn chariots and their drivers. Horses and their riders shall fall, each by the sword of his fellow. ²³On that day—declares the Lord of Hosts—I will take you, O My servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel—declares the Lord—and make you as a signet;^b for I have chosen you—declares the Lord of Hosts.