14
Then Haggai said, “ ‘So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,’ declares the LORD. ‘Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled.
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“ ‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on —consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the LORD’s temple.
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When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty.
17
I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not return to me,’ declares the LORD.
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‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid. Give careful thought:
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Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. “ ‘From this day on I will bless you.’ ”
Zerubbabel the LORD’s Signet Ring
20 The word of the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month:
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“Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am going to shake the heavens and the earth.
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I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.
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“ ‘On that day,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”