Study Desk

I tell you this so that you will learn a lesson. I want you to fear and respect me. If you do this, your home will not be destroyed, and I will not have to punish you the way I planned." But those evil people only wanted to do more of the same evil things they had already done!

The Lord said, "So just wait! Wait for me to stand and judge you. I have the right to bring people from many nations and use them to punish you. I will use them to show my anger against you. I will use them to show how upset I am—and the whole country will be destroyed.

Then I will change people from other nations so that they can speak the language clearly and call out the name of the Lord . They will all worship me together, shoulder to shoulder, as one people.

The Lord All-Powerful said, "You people look for a big harvest, but when you go to gather the crop, there is only a little grain. So you bring that grain home, and then I send a wind that blows it all away. Why is this happening? Because my house is still in ruins while each of you runs home to take care of your own house.

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.

So they began this work on the 24th day of the sixth month in the second year Darius was the king.

"‘I made an agreement with you when you left Egypt, and I have kept my promise. My Spirit is with you, so don't be afraid!'

‘Suppose a man carries some meat in the fold of his clothes. This meat is part of a sacrifice, so it is holy. If his clothes touch some bread, cooked food, wine, oil, or some other food, will the thing the clothes touch become holy?'" The priests answered, "No."

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 Lord said, ‘Today is the 24th day of the ninth month. You have finished laying the foundation of the Lord 's Temple. So notice what happens from this day forward:

So you must tell the people what the Lord All-Powerful says, "Come back to me, says the Lord All-Powerful, and I will come back to you." This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.

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."

And I am very angry at the nations that feel so safe. I was only a little angry, and I used them to punish my people. But they caused too much damage."

So the Lord says, "I will come back to Jerusalem and comfort her." The Lord All-Powerful says, "Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and my house will be built there."

So I asked the angel who was talking with me, "What do these horns mean?" He said, "These are the horns that forced the people of Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem to go to foreign countries."

Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put the clean turban on him and also put clean clothes on him while the Lord 's angel stood there.

So he said, "They represent the two men chosen to serve the Lord of the whole world."

The red spotted horses were anxious to go look at their part of the earth, so the angel told them, "Go walk through the earth." So they went walking through their part of the earth.

The crown will be kept in my Temple, so that when people see it, they will remember Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and the kindness of Zephaniah's son Josiah."

But they refused to listen and refused to do what he wanted. They closed their ears so that they could not hear what God said.