| 2:1 | 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 |
| 2:2 | and all the people: |
| 2:3 | '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? |
| 2:4 | "'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! |
| 2:5 | '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.' |
| 2:6 | "This is what GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies said: 'Before you know it, I will shake up sky and earth, ocean and fields. |
| 2:7 | 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. |
| 2:8 | 'I own the silver, I own the gold.' Decree of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies. |
| 2:9 | "'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." |
| 2:10 | On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (again, this was in the second year of Darius), GOD's Message came to Haggai: |
| 2:11 | "GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks: Consult the priests for a ruling. |
| 2:12 | 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." |
| 2:13 | 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." |
| 2:14 | 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. |
| 2:15 | "'Think back. Before you set out to lay the first foundation stones for the rebuilding of my Temple, |
| 2:16 | 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? |
| 2:17 | 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. |
| 2:18 | "'Now think ahead from this same date--this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Think ahead from when the Temple rebuilding was launched. |
| 2:19 | Has anything in your fields--vine, fig tree, pomegranate, olive tree--failed to flourish? From now on you can count on a blessing.'" |
| 2:20 | GOD's Message came a second time to Haggai on that most memorable day, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month: |
| 2:21 | "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-- |
| 2:22 | overthrow governments, destroy foreign powers, dismantle the world of weapons and armaments, throw armies into confusion, so that they end up killing one another. |
| 2:23 | 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. |
Haggai 2 - The Message Bible
