The Builders Encouraged

1On the twenty-first of the seventh 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 temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? 4But now take courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord, ‘take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ declares the Lord of hosts. 5‘As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’ 6For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. 7I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. 8‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares 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 I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of hosts.”

11Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

1) How do these passages promise restoration beyond what was lost?

2) What connects the earthly tabernacle to the living temple of believers?

3) How does divine glory unite past faithfulness with future hope?

Elihu Speaks of God’s Dealings with Men

1Then Elihu continued and said,

2“Wait for me a little, and I will show you

That there is yet more to be said in God’s behalf.

3I will fetch my knowledge from afar,

And I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

4For truly my words are not false;

One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

5Behold, God is mighty but does not despise any;

He is mighty in strength of understanding.

6He does not keep the wicked alive,

But gives justice to the afflicted.

7He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous;

But with kings on the throne

He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.

8And if they are bound in fetters,

And are caught in the cords of affliction,

9Then He declares to them their work

And their transgressions, that they have magnified themselves.

10He opens their ear to instruction,

And commands that they return from evil.

11If they hear and serve Him,

They will end their days in prosperity

And their years in pleasures.

12But if they do not hear, they shall perish by the sword

And they will die without knowledge.

13But the godless in heart lay up anger;

They do not cry for help when He binds them.

14They die in youth,

And their life perishes among the cult prostitutes.

15He delivers the afflicted in their affliction,

And opens their ear in time of oppression.

16Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress,

Instead of it, a broad place with no constraint;

And that which was set on your table was full of fatness.

17“But you were full of judgment on the wicked;

Judgment and justice take hold of you.

18Beware that wrath does not entice you to scoffing;

And do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

19Will your riches keep you from distress,

Or all the forces of your strength?

20Do not long for the night,

When people vanish in their place.

21Be careful, do not turn to evil,

For you have preferred this to affliction.

22Behold, God is exalted in His power;

Who is a teacher like Him?

23Who has appointed Him His way,

And who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?

24“Remember that you should exalt His work,

Of which men have sung.

25All men have seen it;

Man beholds from afar.

26Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him;

The number of His years is unsearchable.

27For He draws up the drops of water,

They distill rain from the mist,

28Which the clouds pour down,

They drip upon man abundantly.

29Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,

The thundering of His pavilion?

30Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him,

And He covers the depths of the sea.

31For by these He judges peoples;

He gives food in abundance.

32He covers His hands with the lightning,

And commands it to strike the mark.

33Its noise declares His presence;

The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.

Haggai Begins Temple Building

1In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.” ’ ” 3Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?” 5Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! 6You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”

7Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! 8Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9“You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. 10Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. 11I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your 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 showed reverence for the Lord. 13Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke by the commission of the Lord to the people saying, “ ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord.” 14So the 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, 15on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.