Haggai 2:5-15

5 'Put into action the word I covenanted with you when you left Egypt. I'm living and breathing among you right now. Don't be timid. Don't hold back.'
6 "This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies said: 'Before you know it, I will shake up sky and earth, ocean and fields.
7 And I'll shake down all the godless nations. They'll bring bushels of wealth and I will fill this Temple with splendor.' God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so.
8 'I own the silver, I own the gold.' Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
9 "'This Temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning but an even more glorious finish: a place in which I will hand out wholeness and holiness.' Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies."
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (again, this was in the second year of Darius), God's Message came to Haggai:
11 "God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks: Consult the priests for a ruling.
12 If someone carries a piece of sacred meat in his pocket, meat that is set apart for sacrifice on the altar, and the pocket touches a loaf of bread, a dish of stew, a bottle of wine or oil, or any other food, will these foods be made holy by such contact?" The priests said, "No."
13 Then Haggai said, "How about someone who is contaminated by touching a corpse - if that person touches one of these foods, will it be contaminated?" The priests said, "Yes, it will be contaminated."
14 Then Haggai said, "'So, this people is contaminated. Their nation is contaminated. Everything they do is contaminated. Whatever they do for me is contaminated.' God says so.
15 "'Think back. Before you set out to lay the first foundation stones for the rebuilding of my Temple,

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Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.