Haggai, Revelation 13, Ecclesiastes 12

The Commission to Rebuild the Temple

1In the ^asecond year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of ¹Yahweh came by the hand of ^bHaggai the prophet to ^cZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ^dgovernor of Judah, and to ^eJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ²“Thus says Yahweh of ¹hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of Yahweh to be rebuilt.”’” ³Then the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying, ⁴“Is it time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses while this house ^alies waste?” ⁵So now, thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Set your heart to consider your ways! ⁶“You have ^asown much, but bring in little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is ¹not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

⁷Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Set your heart to consider your ways! ⁸“Go up to the ¹mountains and bring wood and ^arebuild the house of God, that I may be ^bpleased with it and be ^cglorified,” says Yahweh. ⁹“^aYou look for much, but behold, it comes to little; and you bring it home, and I ^bblow it away. Why?” declares Yahweh of hosts, “Because of My house which ^clies waste, while each of you runs to his own house. ¹⁰“Therefore, because of you the ^asky has restrained ¹its dew and the earth has restrained its produce. ¹¹“And I called for a ¹^,^adrought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on ^bmen, on cattle, and on ^call the labor of ²your hands.”

¹²Then ^aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and ^bJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, ^clistened to the voice of Yahweh their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yahweh their God had sent him. And the people ^dfeared Yahweh. ¹³Then Haggai, the ^amessenger of Yahweh, spoke by the commissioned message of Yahweh to the people saying, “‘^bI am with you,’ declares Yahweh.” ¹⁴So Yahweh stirred up the spirit of ^aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ^bgovernor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the ^cremnant of the people; and they came and ^ddid work on the house of Yahweh of hosts, their God, ¹⁵on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.

The Glory of Yahweh Will Fill the Temple

2On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of Yahweh came by the hand of ^aHaggai the prophet saying, ²“Speak now to ^aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ^bgovernor of Judah, and to ^cJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the ^dremnant of the people saying, ³‘Who among you ^aremains who saw this house in its ^bformer glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes? ⁴‘But now, ^abe strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares Yahweh, ‘be strong also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land, be strong,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and work; for ^bI am with you,’ declares Yahweh of hosts. ⁵‘As for the ¹^,^apromise which I cut with you when you came out of Egypt, ²My ^bSpirit is standing in your midst; ^cdo not fear!’ ⁶“For thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘^aOnce more—¹in a ^blittle while—I am going to ^cshake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. ⁷‘And I will shake ^aall the nations; and ¹they will come with the ^bdesirable things of all nations, and I will ^cfill this house with glory,’ says Yahweh of hosts. ⁸‘The ^asilver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ declares Yahweh of hosts. ⁹‘The latter ^aglory of this house will be greater than the ^bformer,’ says Yahweh of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give ^cpeace,’ declares Yahweh of hosts.”

¹⁰On the ^atwenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Haggai the prophet, saying, ¹¹“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘^aAsk now the priests about the law: ¹²‘If a man carries ^aholy meat in the ¹fold of his garment and touches bread with ²this fold or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’” And the priests answered, “No.” ¹³Then Haggai said, “^aIf one who is unclean from a ¹corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.” ¹⁴Then Haggai answered and said, “‘^aSo is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they bring near to Me there is unclean. ¹⁵‘But now, ^aoh set your heart to consider from this day ¹onward: from before one ^bstone was set on another in the temple of Yahweh, ¹⁶¹from when it was that one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, then there would be only ten; and from when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty troughs full, then there would be only twenty. ¹⁷‘I struck you and every work of your hands with ^ascorching wind, mildew, and hail; ¹yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares Yahweh. ¹⁸‘^aOh set your heart to consider from this day ¹onward, from the ^btwenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of Yahweh was ^cfounded, set your heart to consider: ¹⁹‘Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will ^abless you.’”

Yahweh Chooses Zerubbabel

²⁰Then the word of Yahweh came a second time to Haggai on the ^atwenty-fourth day of the month, saying, ²¹“Speak to ^aZerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, ‘I am going to ^bshake the heavens and the earth. ²²‘I will ^aoverthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the ^bstrength of the kingdoms of the ¹nations; and I will ^coverthrow the chariots and their riders, and the ^dhorses and their riders will go down, ^eeveryone by the sword of another.’ ²³‘On that day,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will make you like a ¹^,^asignet ring, for ^bI have chosen you,’” declares Yahweh of hosts.

The Beast from the Sea

13And the ¹dragon stood on the sand of the ²seashore. Then I saw a ^abeast coming up out of the sea, having ^bten horns and ^cseven heads, and on his horns were ^dten diadems, and on his heads were ^eblasphemous names. ²And the beast which I saw was ^alike a leopard, and his feet were like those of ^ba bear, and his mouth like the mouth of ^ca lion. And the ^ddragon gave him his power and his ^ethrone and great authority. ³And I saw one of his heads as if it had been ¹slain fatally, and his ^afatal wound was healed. And the whole earth ^bmarveled and followed after the beast. ⁴And they worshiped the ^adragon because he ^bgave his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “^cWho is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” ⁵And there was given to him a mouth ^aspeaking ¹great boasts and blasphemies, and authority to act for ^bforty-two months was given to him. ⁶And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, ^athose who ¹dwell in heaven.

⁷And it was also given to him to ^amake war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over ^bevery tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. ⁸And all who ^adwell on the earth will worship him, everyone ^bwhose name has not been ¹written ^cfrom the foundation of the world in the ^dbook of life of ^ethe Lamb who has been slain. ⁹^aIf anyone has an ear, let him hear. ¹⁰^aIf anyone ¹is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; ^bif anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is ^cthe perseverance and the faith of the saints.

The Beast from the Earth

¹¹Then ^aI saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had ^btwo horns like a lamb and he was speaking as a ^cdragon. ¹²And he ^aexercises all the authority of the first beast ¹^,^bin his presence. And he makes ^cthe earth and those who dwell in it to ^dworship the first beast, whose ^efatal wound was healed. ¹³And he ^adoes great signs, so that he even makes ^bfire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. ¹⁴And he ^adeceives ^bthose who dwell on the earth because of ^cthe signs which were given to him to do ¹^,^din the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the ^ewound of the sword and has come to life. ¹⁵And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even ¹speak and cause ^aas many as do not ^bworship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶And he causes all, ^athe small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, that they ¹be given a ^bmark on their right hand or on their forehead, ¹⁷and that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the ^amark, either ^bthe name of the beast or ^cthe number of his name. ¹⁸^aHere is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number ^bof man; and his number is ¹666.

Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

12^aRemember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the ^bevil days happen and the years draw near in which you will say, “I have no delight in them”; ²before the ^asun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; ³in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and valiant men ^abend down, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and ^bthose who look through ¹windows grow dark; ⁴and the doors on the street are shut as the ^asound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the ^bdaughters of song will ¹sing softly. ⁵Furthermore, ¹men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blooms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal ^ahome, but the ^bmourners go about in the street. ⁶Remember Him before the silver ¹cord is ²snapped and the ^agolden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the spring is broken and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; ⁷then the ^adust will return to the earth as it was, and the ¹^,^bspirit will return to ^cGod who gave it. ⁸“^aVanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

⁹In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out, and ¹arranged ^amany proverbs. ¹⁰The Preacher sought to find ^adelightful words and ^bwords of truth written uprightly.

¹¹The ^awords of wise men are like ^bgoads, and masters of these collections are like ¹well-driven ^cnails; they are given by one Shepherd. ¹²But in addition to this, my son, be warned: the making of ^amany books is endless, and much ^bdevotion to books is wearying to the flesh.

¹³The end of the matter, all that has been heard: ^afear God and ^bkeep His commandments, because this is the end of the matter for ^call mankind. ¹⁴For ^aGod will bring every work to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.