Day 228 of 365

¹King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land, and on the islands of the sea.

²All the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

³For Mordecai the Jew was next to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted by the multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people, and speaking peace to all his descendants.

¹In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the Word of the Lord came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

²"This is what the Lord of hosts says: These people say, 'The time hasn't yet come, the time for the Lord's house to be built.'"

³Then the Word of the Lord came by Haggai, the prophet, saying,

⁴"Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?

⁵Now therefore this is what the Lord of hosts says: Consider your ways.

⁶You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you do not have enough. You drink, but you aren't filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it."

⁷This is what the Lord of hosts says: "Consider your ways.

⁸Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified," says the Lord.

⁹"You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says the Lord of hosts, "Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.

¹⁰Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.

¹¹I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground brings forth, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands."

¹²Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord, their God, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as the Lord, their God, had sent him; and the people feared the Lord.

¹³Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people, saying, "I am with you," says the Lord.

¹⁴The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,

¹⁵in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

¹In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month, the Word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

²"Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying,

³'Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn't it in your eyes as nothing?

⁴Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,' says the Lord. 'Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' says the Lord, 'and work, for I am with you,' says the Lord of hosts.

⁵This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. 'Do not be afraid.'

⁶For this is what the Lord of hosts says: 'Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;

⁷and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.

⁸The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,' says the Lord of hosts.

⁹'The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,' says the Lord of hosts; 'and in this place will I give peace,' says the Lord of hosts."

¹⁰In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the Word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

¹¹"Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

¹²'If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy?'" The priests answered, "No."

¹³Then Haggai said, "If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?" The priests answered, "It will be unclean."

¹⁴Then Haggai answered, "'So is this people, and so is this nation before me,' says the Lord; 'and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean.

¹⁵Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of the Lord.

¹⁶Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty.

¹⁷I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you did not turn to me,' says the Lord.

¹⁸'Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it.

¹⁹Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven't brought forth. From this day will I bless you.'"

²⁰The Word of the Lord came the second time to Haggai in the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying,

²¹"Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, 'I will shake the heavens and the earth.

²²I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother.

²³In that day, says the Lord of hosts, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,' says the Lord, 'and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,' says the Lord of hosts."

¹In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

²"The Lord was very displeased with your fathers.

³Therefore tell them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Return to me,' says the Lord of hosts, 'and I will return to you,' says the Lord of hosts.

⁴Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;' but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says the Lord.

⁵Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

⁶But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did not they overtake your fathers? "Then they repented and said, 'Just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.'"

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

⁸"I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses.

⁹Then I asked, 'My lord, what are these?'" The angel who talked with me said to me, "I will show you what these are."

¹⁰The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, "They are the ones the Lord has sent to go back and forth through the earth."

¹¹They reported to the angel of the Lord who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, "We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace."

¹²Then the angel of the Lord replied, "O Lord of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?"

¹³The Lord answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words.

¹⁴So the angel who talked with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

¹⁵I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but only a little angry, but they added to the calamity."

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord: "I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it," says the Lord of hosts, "and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem."'

¹⁷"Proclaim further, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem."'"

¹⁸I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns.

¹⁹I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" He answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

²⁰The Lord showed me four craftsmen.

²¹Then I asked, "What are these coming to do?" He said, "These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it."