Haggai 1; Haggai 2; Revelation 17

1 The LORD's word came through Haggai the prophet in the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month on the first day of the month, to Judah's governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel's son, and to the high priest Joshua, Jehozadak's son:

2 This is what the LORD of heavenly forces says: These people say, "The time hasn't come, the time to rebuild the LORD's house."

3 Then the LORD's word came through Haggai the prophet:

4 Is it time for you to dwell in your own paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?

5 So now, this is what the LORD of heavenly forces says: Take your ways to heart.

6 You have sown much, but it has brought little. You eat, but there's not enough to satisfy. You drink, but not enough to get drunk. There is clothing, but not enough to keep warm. Anyone earning wages puts those wages into a bag with holes.

7 This is what the LORD of heavenly forces says: Take your ways to heart.

8 Go up to the highlands and bring back wood. Rebuild the temple so that I may enjoy it and that I may be honored, says the LORD.

9 You expect a surplus, but look how it shrinks. You bring it home, and I blow it away, says the LORD of heavenly forces, because my house lies in ruins. But all of you hurry to your own houses.

10 Therefore, the skies above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce because of you.

11 I have called for drought on the earth, on the mountains, on the grain, on the wine, on the olive oil, on that which comes forth from the fertile ground, on humanity, on beasts, and upon everything that handles produce.

12 Zerubbabel, Shealtiel's son, and the high priest Joshua, Jehozadak's son, along with all who remained among the people, listened to the voice of the LORD God and to the words of Haggai the prophet because the LORD their God sent him. Then the people feared the LORD.

13 Then Haggai, the LORD's messenger, gave the LORD's message to the people: I am with you, says the LORD.

14 The LORD moved the spirit of Judah's governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel's son, and the spirit of the high priest Joshua, Jehozadak's son, and the spirit of all the rest of the people. Then they came and did work on the house of the LORD of heavenly forces, their God,

15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.

1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the LORD's word came through Haggai the prophet:

2 Say to Judah's governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel's son, and to the chief priest Joshua, Jehozadak's son, and to the rest of the people:

3 Who among you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn't it appear as nothing to you?

4 So now, be strong, Zerubbabel, says the LORD. Be strong, High Priest Joshua, Jehozadak's son, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the LORD. Work, for I am with you, says the LORD of heavenly forces.

5 As with our agreement when you came out of Egypt, my spirit stands in your midst. Don't fear.

6 This is what the LORD of heavenly forces says: In just a little while, I will make the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land quake.

7 I will make all the nations quake. The wealth of all the nations will come. I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of heavenly forces.

8 The silver and the gold belong to me, says the LORD of heavenly forces.

9 This house will be more glorious than its predecessor, says the LORD of heavenly forces. I will provide prosperity in this place, says the LORD of heavenly forces.

10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius, the LORD's word came to Haggai the prophet:

11 This is what the LORD of heavenly forces says: Go ahead and ask the priests for a ruling:

12 "If someone lifts holy meat into the hem of one's garment and that hem touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any kind of food, will it be made holy?" And the priests responded, "No."

13 Haggai said, "If an unclean person touches any of these things, will it become unclean?" And the priests responded, "It will be unclean."

14 Then Haggai responded: Thus has this people and this nation become to me, says the LORD, and everything that they do with their hands. Whatever they offer is unclean.

15 So now, take it to heart from this day forward. Before stone was placed on stone in the LORD's temple,

16 when one came to the granary for twenty measures, there were only ten; and when one came to the wine vat for fifty measures, there were only twenty.

17 I struck you—everything you do with your hands— with blight and mildew and hail; but you didn't return to me.

18 So take it to heart from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Take it to heart from the day when the foundation for the LORD's temple was laid.

19 Is the seed yet in the granary— or the vine, the fig tree, or the pomegranate— or has the olive tree not borne fruit? From this day forward, I will bless you.

20 And the LORD's word came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth of the month, saying:

21 Speak to Judah's governor Zerubbabel: I am about to make the heavens and the earth quake.

22 I will overthrow the thrones of the kingdoms; I will destroy the strength of the nations. I will overthrow chariot and rider; horses and riders will fall. Each one will fall by the sword of his companion.

23 On that day, says the LORD of heavenly forces: I will take you, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel's son, my servant, says the LORD; I will make you like a signet ring because I have chosen you, says the LORD of heavenly forces.

1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls spoke with me. "Come, he said, I will show you the judgment upon the great prostitute, who is seated on deep waters.

2 The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and those who live on earth have become drunk with the wine of her whoring."

3 Then he brought me in a Spirit-inspired trance to a desert. There I saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names. It had seven heads and ten horns.

4 The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing, and she glittered with gold and jewels and pearls. In her hand she held a gold cup full of the vile and impure things that came from her activity as a prostitute.

5 A name—a mystery—was written on her forehead: "Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and the vile things of the earth."

6 I saw that the woman was drunk on the blood of the saints and the blood of Jesus' witnesses. I was completely stunned when I saw her.

7 Then the angel said to me, "Why are you amazed? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and the seven-headed, ten-horned beast that carries her.

8 The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. Those who live on earth, whose names haven't been written in the scroll of life from the time the earth was made, will be amazed when they see the beast, because it was and is not and will again be present.

9 This calls for an understanding mind. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. They are also seven kings.

10 Five kings have fallen, the one is, and the other hasn't yet come. When that king comes, he must remain for only a short time.

11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is itself an eighth king that belongs to the seven, and it is going to destruction.

12 The ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who haven't yet received royal power. But they will receive royal authority for an hour, along with the beast.

13 These kings will be of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.

14 They will make war on the Lamb, but the Lamb will emerge victorious, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with him are called, chosen, and faithful."

15 Then he said to me, "The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples, crowds, nations, and languages.

16 As for the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will destroy her and strip her bare. They will devour her flesh and burn her with fire

17 because God moved them to carry out his purposes. That is why they will be of one mind and give their royal power to the beast, until God's words have been accomplished.

18 The woman whom you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth."