1: On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Word of GOD came through the prophet Haggai: "Tell Governor Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and High Priest Joshua son of Jehozadak
2: and all the people:
3: "Is there anyone here who saw the Temple the way it used to be, all glorious? And what do you see now? Not much, right?
4: So get to work, Zerubbabel!'-GOD is speaking. Get to work, Joshua son of Jehozadak--high priest!' Get to work, all you people!'-GOD is speaking. Yes, get to work! For I am with you.' The GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies is speaking!
5: "Put into action the word I covenanted with you when you left Egypt. I'm living and breathing among you right now. Don't be timid. Don't hold back.'
6: "This is what GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies said: "Before you know it, I will shake up sky and earth, ocean and fields.
7: And I'll shake down all the godless nations. They'll bring bushels of wealth and I will fill this Temple with splendor.' GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies says so.
8: "I own the silver, I own the gold.' Decree of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.
9: This Temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning but an even more glorious finish: a place in which I will hand out wholeness and holiness.' Decree of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies." [JC]
10: On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (again, this was in the second year of Darius), GOD's Message came to Haggai:
11: "GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks: Consult the priests for a ruling.
12: If someone carries a piece of sacred meat in his pocket, meat that is set apart for sacrifice on the altar, and the pocket touches a loaf of bread, a dish of stew, a bottle of wine or oil, or any other food, will these foods be made holy by such contact?" The priests said, "No."
13: Then Haggai said, "How about someone who is contaminated by touching a corpse--if that person touches one of these foods, will it be contaminated?" The priests said, "Yes, it will be contaminated."
14: Then Haggai said, So, this people is contaminated. Their nation is contaminated. Everything they do is contaminated. Whatever they do for me is contaminated.' GOD says so.
15: Think back. Before you set out to lay the first foundation stones for the rebuilding of my Temple,
16: how did it go with you? Isn't it true that your foot-dragging, halfhearted efforts at rebuilding the Temple of GOD were reflected in a sluggish, halfway return on your crops--half the grain you were used to getting, half the wine?
17: I hit you with drought and blight and hail. Everything you were doing got hit. But it didn't seem to faze you. You continued to ignore me.' GOD's Decree.
18: Now think ahead from this same date--this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Think ahead from when the Temple rebuilding was launched.
19: Has anything in your fields--vine, fig tree, pomegranate, olive tree--failed to flourish? From now on you can count on a blessing.'"
20: [JC] GOD's Message came a second time to Haggai on that most memorable day, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month:
21: "Speak to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah: I am about to shake up everything, to turn everything upside down and start over from top to bottom--
22: overthrow governments, destroy foreign powers, dismantle the world of weapons and armaments, throw armies into confusion, so that they end up killing one another.
23: And on that day'"--this is GOD's Message--I will take you, O Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, as my personal servant and I will set you as a signet ring, the sign of my sovereign presence and authority. I've looked over the field and chosen you for this work.'" The Message of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.