Then Haggai asked, “If a person who is ritually unclean because of touching a dead body ¹  comes in contact with one of these items, will it become unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”

And,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘though such a thing may seem to be difficult in the opinion of the small community of those days, will it also appear difficult to me?’ asks the Lord who rules over all.

I then said, “I will not shepherd you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be eradicated, let it be eradicated. As for those who survive, let them eat each other’s flesh!”

Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can keep standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, ¹  like a launderer’s soap.

The rain fell, the flood ¹  came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock.

The ¹  seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth ²  choke the word, ³  so it produces nothing.

Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is approaching, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

but ¹  worldly cares, the seductiveness of wealth, ²  and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, ³  and it produces nothing.

He also said to them, “A lamp ¹  isn’t brought to be put under a basket ²  or under a bed, is it? Isn’t it to be placed on a lampstand?

when it is sown, it grows up, ¹  becomes the greatest of all garden plants, and grows large branches so that the wild birds ²  can nest in its shade.” ³ 

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us: ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man ¹  must marry ²  the widow and father children ³  for his brother.’ ⁴ 

Those ¹  on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, ²  but ³  in a time of testing ⁴  fall away. ⁵ 

As for the seed that ¹  fell among thorns, these are the ones who hear, but ²  as they go on their way they are choked ³  by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, ⁴  and their fruit does not mature. ⁵ 

“When an unclean spirit ¹  goes out of a person, ²  it passes through waterless places ³  looking for rest but ⁴  not finding any. Then ⁵  it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ ⁶ 

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit ¹  will not be forgiven. ² 

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, ¹  so that when it runs out you will be welcomed ²  into the eternal homes. ³ 

They asked him, ¹  “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, that man ²  must marry ³  the widow and father children ⁴  for his brother. ⁵ 

They ¹  will fall by the edge ²  of the sword and be led away as captives ³  among all nations. Jerusalem ⁴  will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. ⁵ 

Then ¹  he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me ²  in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms ³  must be fulfilled.”

The one who believes in him is not condemned. ¹  The one who does not believe has been condemned ²  already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only ³  Son of God.