Study Desk

There is no God like you. You take away people's guilt. God will forgive his people who survive. He will not stay angry with them forever, because he enjoys being kind.

God, please be true to Jacob. Be kind and loyal to Abraham, as you promised our ancestors long ago.

The Lord is a jealous God. The Lord punishes the guilty, and he is very angry. The Lord punishes his enemies, and he stays angry with them.

Lord , you are the one who lives forever! You are my holy God who never dies! Lord , you created the Babylonians to do what must be done. Our Rock, you created them to punish people.

Their false god will not help them, because it is only a statue that someone covered with metal. It is only a statue, so whoever made it cannot expect it to help. That statue cannot even speak!

God is coming from Teman. The Holy One is coming from Mount Paran. Selah His glory covers the heavens, and his praise fills the earth!

He stood and judged the earth. He looked at the people of all the nations, and they shook with fear. For many years the mountains stood strong, but those mountains fell to pieces. Those old, old hills fell down. God has always been able to do that.

But I will still be glad in the Lord and rejoice in God my Savior.

The Lord God gives me my strength. He helps me run fast like a deer. He leads me safely on the mountains. To the music director. On my stringed instruments.

And those who go up on their roofs to worship the stars will be forgotten. They worship me, the Lord , but they also use the name of the false god Milcom to make promises.

Be silent before the Lord God , because the Lord 's day for judging the people is coming soon. The Lord has prepared his sacrifice, and he has told his invited guests to get ready.

Then the land will belong to the survivors from Judah. The Lord their God will remember the people from Judah and restore their fortunes. Then they will let their sheep eat the grass in those fields. In the evenings they will lie down in the empty houses of Ashkelon.

So, as surely as I am alive, Moab and the people of Ammon will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah. I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, and I promise those countries will be destroyed completely forever. Their land will be overgrown with weeds. It will be like the land covered with salt by the Dead Sea. The survivors of my people will take that land and everything left in it."

Jerusalem, your people fought against God. They hurt other people, and you have been stained with sin.

They didn't listen to me or accept my teachings. Jerusalem didn't trust the Lord . Jerusalem didn't go to her God.

The Lord your God is with you. He is like a powerful soldier. He will save you. He will show how much he loves you and how happy he is with you. He will laugh and be happy about you,

The Lord God had sent Haggai to speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and to the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak. So these men and all the people listened to the voice of the Lord their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet. And the people showed their fear and respect for the Lord their God.

Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel was the governor of Judah. Joshua son of Jehozadak was the high priest. The Lord made them and the rest of the people excited about working on the Temple of their God, the Lord All-Powerful.

Then Haggai said, "This is what the Lord God said: ‘This is also true for the people of this nation. They were not pure and holy before me. So anything they did with their hands and anything they offered at the altar became unclean.

The prophets were my servants. I used them to tell your ancestors about my laws and teachings. Your ancestors finally learned their lesson and said, ‘The Lord All-Powerful did what he said he would do. He punished us for the way we lived and for all the evil things we did.' So they came back to God."