Restoration of the Temple Resumed

5 Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo^[a] prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.^(A)

⁶ He said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.^{(A) 7} What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain, and he shall bring out the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ ”^(B)

⁸ Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹ “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.^{(C) 10} For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.

“These seven are the eyes of the Lord that range through the whole earth.”^(D)

The Command to Rebuild the Temple

1 In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:^{(A) 2} “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.” ³ Then the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: ⁴ “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?^{(B) 5} Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared.^{(C) 6} You have sown much and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.^(D)

⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. ⁸ Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord.^{(E) 9} You have looked for much, but it came to little, and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses.^{(F) 10} Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.^{(G) 11} And I have called for a drought^[a] on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the soil produces, on humans and animals, and on all their labors.”^(H)

¹² Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua 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 the prophet Haggai, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people feared the Lord.^{(I) 13} Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, saying, “I am with you, says the Lord.”^{(J) 14} And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua 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,^{(K) 15} on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month.

The Future Glory of the Temple

In the second year of King Darius, 2 ¹ in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying:

Israel Urged to Repent

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo, saying:^{(A) 2} “The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. ³ Therefore say to 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.^{(B) 4} Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or heed me, says the Lord.^{(C) 5} Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶ But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? So they repented and said, ‘The Lord of hosts has dealt with us according to our ways and deeds, just as he planned to do.’ ”^(D)

First Vision: The Horsemen

⁷ On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo: ⁸ In the night I saw a man mounted on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the shadows,^[a] and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.^{(E) 9} Then I said, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who spoke with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.”^{(F) 10} So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, “They are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”^{(G) 11} Then they spoke to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and the whole earth remains at peace.”^{(H) 12} Then the angel of the Lord said, “O Lord of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?”^{(I) 13} Then the Lord replied with gracious and comforting words to the angel who spoke with me.^{(J) 14} So the angel who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim this message: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am very zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion,^{(K) 15} and I am extremely angry with the nations that are at ease, for while I was only a little angry, they made the disaster worse.^{(L) 16} Therefore, thus says the Lord: I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it, says the Lord of hosts, and a measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.^{(M) 17} Proclaim further: Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”^(N)

Second Vision: The Horns and the Smiths

^18 [b]And I looked up and saw four horns. ¹⁹ I asked the angel who spoke with me, “What are those?” And he answered me, “Those are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” ²⁰ Then the Lord showed me four blacksmiths. ²¹ And I asked, “What are they coming to do?” He answered, “Those are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no head could be raised, but these have come to terrify them, to strike down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.”^[c](O)