¹ In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying,

² Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,

³ Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

⁴ Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts:

⁵ According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.

⁶ For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

⁷ And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

⁸ The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.

⁹ The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

¹⁰ In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

¹¹ Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

¹² If one shall bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt shall touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any food, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

¹³ Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body shall touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

¹⁴ Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.

¹⁵ And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD:

¹⁶ Since those days were, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the press-vat to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.

¹⁷ I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.

¹⁸ Consider now from this day, and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD'S temple was laid, consider it.

¹⁹ Is the seed yet in the barn? yes, as yet the vine, and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.

²⁰ And again the word of the LORD came to Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,

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

²² And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen: and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

²³ In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

¹ It happened in the fourth year of king Darius that the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

² The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech, and their men, to entreat Yahweh's favor,

³ and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Armies, and to the prophets, saying, "Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?"

⁴ Then the word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying,

⁵ "Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?

⁶ When you eat, and when you drink, don't you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

⁷ Aren't these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?'"

⁸ The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,

⁹ "Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, 'Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

¹⁰ Don't oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.'

¹¹ But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.

¹² Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies.

¹³ It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen," said Yahweh of Armies;

¹⁴ "but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate."