1 On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by aHaggai the prophet saying, 2 "Speak now to aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, agovernor of Judah, and to aJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the bremnant of the people saying, 3 'Who is aleft among you who saw this temple in its bformer glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? 4 'But now atake 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 bI am with you,' declares the Lord of hosts. 5 'As for the apromise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My bSpirit is abiding in your midst; cdo not fear!' 6 "For thus says the Lord of hosts, 'aOnce more in a blittle while, I am going to cshake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. 7 'I will shake aall the nations; and they will come with the bwealth of all nations, and I will cfill this house with glory,' says the Lord of hosts. 8 'The asilver is Mine and the gold is Mine,' declares the Lord of hosts. 9 'The latter aglory of this house will be greater than the bformer,' says the Lord of hosts, 'and in this place I will give cpeace,' declares the Lord of hosts." 10 On the atwenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying, 11 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'aAsk now the priests for a ruling: 12 'If a man carries aholy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?'" And the priests answered, "No." 13 Then Haggai said, "aIf one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?" And the priests answered, "It will become unclean." 14 Then Haggai said, " 'aSo is this people. And so is this nation before Me,' declares the Lord, 'and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. 15 'But now, do aconsider from this day onward: before one bstone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord, 16 from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty. 17 'I smote you and every work of your hands with ablasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,' declares the Lord. 18 'Do aconsider from this day onward, from the btwenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the Lord was cfounded, consider: 19 'Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will abless you.'" 20 Then the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the atwenty-fourth day of the month, saying, 21 "Speak to aZerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, 'I am going to bshake the heavens and the earth. 22 'I will aoverthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the bpower of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will coverthrow the chariots and their riders, and the dhorses and their riders will go down, eeveryone by the sword of another.' 23 'On that day,' declares the Lord of hosts, 'I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,' declares the Lord, 'and I will make you like a asignet ring, for bI have chosen you,'" declares the Lord of hosts.