Today's Reading

¹In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the 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 house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn't it in your eyes as nothing?

⁴Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,' says the Lord. 'Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' says the Lord, 'and work, for I am with you,' says the Lord of hosts.

⁵This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. 'Do not be afraid.'

⁶For this is what the Lord of hosts says: 'Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;

⁷and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.

⁸The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,' says 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 will I give peace,' says the Lord of hosts."

¹⁰In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the Word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

¹¹"Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

¹²'If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy?'" The priests answered, "No."

¹³Then Haggai said, "If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?" The priests answered, "It will be unclean."

¹⁴Then Haggai answered, "'So is this people, and so is this nation before me,' says the Lord; 'and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean.

¹⁵Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of the Lord.

¹⁶Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty.

¹⁷I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you did not turn to me,' says the Lord.

¹⁸'Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it.

¹⁹Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven't brought forth. From this day will I bless you.'"

²⁰The Word of the Lord came the second time to Haggai in the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying,

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

²²I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother.

²³In that day, says the Lord of hosts, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,' says the Lord, 'and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,' says the Lord of hosts."

¹In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

²"The Lord was very displeased with your fathers.

³Therefore tell 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.

⁴Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;' but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says the Lord.

⁵Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

⁶But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did not they overtake your fathers? "Then they repented and said, 'Just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.'"

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

⁸"I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses.

⁹Then I asked, 'My lord, what are these?'" The angel who talked with me said to me, "I will show you what these are."

¹⁰The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, "They are the ones the Lord has sent to go back and forth through the earth."

¹¹They reported to the angel of the Lord who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, "We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace."

¹²Then the angel of the Lord replied, "O Lord of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?"

¹³The Lord answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words.

¹⁴So the angel who talked with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

¹⁵I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but only a little angry, but they added to the calamity."

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord: "I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it," says the Lord of hosts, "and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem."'

¹⁷"Proclaim further, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem."'"

¹⁸I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns.

¹⁹I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" He answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

²⁰The Lord showed me four craftsmen.

²¹Then I asked, "What are these coming to do?" He said, "These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it."

¹I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.

²Then I asked, "Where are you going?" He said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its breadth and what is its length."

³Behold, the angel who talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,

⁴and said to him, "Run, speak to this young man, saying, 'Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it.

⁵For I,' says the Lord, 'will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.

⁶Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,' says the Lord; 'for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,' says the Lord.

⁷'Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.'

⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts: 'For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.

⁹For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a spoil to those who served them; and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.

¹⁰Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you,' says the Lord.

¹¹Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

¹²The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

¹³Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!"

¹I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, "Come!"

²And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.

³When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come!"

⁴Another came forth, a fiery red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword.

⁵When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come!" And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand.

⁶I heard something like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenixes of barley for a denarius! Do not damage the oil and the wine!"

⁷When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, "Come!"

⁸And behold, a pale horse, and he who sat on it, his name was Death. Hell followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.

⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they had.

¹⁰They called out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

¹¹A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a little longer, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.

¹²I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood.

¹³The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind.

¹⁴The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

¹⁵The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.

¹⁶They told the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,

¹⁷for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?"

¹Do not boast about tomorrow; for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

²Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend; although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

⁷A full soul loathes a honeycomb; but to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.

⁸As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home.

⁹Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man's friend.

¹⁰Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend. Do not go to your brother's house in the day of your disaster: better is a neighbor who is near than a distant brother.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, then I can answer my tormentor.

¹²A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a stranger. Hold it for a wayward woman!

¹⁴He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse by him.

¹⁵A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike:

¹⁶restraining her is like restraining the wind, or like grasping oil in his right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend's countenance.

¹⁸Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored.

¹⁹As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man's eyes are never satisfied.

²¹The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his praise.

²²Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, yet his foolishness will not be removed from him.

²³Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds:

²⁴for riches are not forever, nor does even the crown endure to all generations.

²⁵The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, the grasses of the hills are gathered in.

²⁶The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are the price of a field.

²⁷There will be plenty of goats' milk for your food, for your family's food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.