‘You expected a large harvest, but instead ¹  there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. ²  Why?’ asks the Lord who rules over all. ‘Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house! ³ 

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, ¹  along with the whole remnant of the people, ²  obeyed ³  the Lord their God. They responded favorably to the message of the prophet Haggai, who spoke just as the Lord their God had instructed him, ⁴  and the people began to respect the Lord. ⁵ 

“Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Turn now from your evil wickedness,”’ but they would by no means obey me,” says the Lord.

“The Lord who rules over all says, ‘The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth ¹  months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.’

“I will pour out on the kingship ¹  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ²  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ³ 

If you do not listen and take seriously ¹  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ²  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

For the heart of this people has become dull; they are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ ¹ 

And he will go as forerunner before the Lord ¹  in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ²  to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ¹  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ²  How often I have longed ³  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ⁴  you would have none of it! ⁵ 

“Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures ¹  just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn ²  from these worthless ³  things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, ⁴  the sea, and everything that is in them.

He came ¹  to us, took ²  Paul’s belt, ³  tied ⁴  his own hands and feet with it, ⁵  and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over ⁶  to the Gentiles.’”

After three days ¹  Paul ²  called the local Jewish leaders ³  together. When they had assembled, he said to them, “Brothers, ⁴  although I had done ⁵  nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, ⁶  from Jerusalem ⁷  I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans. ⁸ 

For the heart of this people has become dull, ¹  and their ears are hard of hearing, ²  and they have closed their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, ³  and I would heal them.”’ ⁴ 

But if the ministry that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets ¹  – came with glory, so that the Israelites ²  could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face ³  (a glory ⁴  which was made ineffective), ⁵ 

‘I know ¹  where you live – where Satan’s throne is. Yet ²  you continue to cling ³  to my name and you have not denied your ⁴  faith in me, ⁵  even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, ⁶  who was killed in your city ⁷  where Satan lives.

Then ¹  the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. And there was no light for a third of the day ²  and for a third of the night likewise.

The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made ¹  of gold, silver, ²  bronze, stone, and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk about.

and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told ¹  those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived.

Even the light from a lamp will never shine in you again! The voices of the bridegroom and his bride will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the tycoons of the world, because all the nations ¹  were deceived by your magic spells! ² 

Now ¹  the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf ²  – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. ³