1In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the Lord spoke by Aggæus the prophet, saying,

2Speak now to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Juda, and to ²Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, saying,

3Who is there of you that saw this house in her former glory? and how do ye now look upon it, as it were ³nothing before your eyes?

4Yet now be strong, O Zorobabel, saith the Lord; and strengthen thyself, O Jesus the high priest, the son of Josedec; and let all the people of the land strengthen themselves, saith the Lord, and work, for I am with you, saith the Lord Almighty;

5and my Spirit remains in the midst of you; be of good courage.

6For thus saith the Lord Almighty; Yet once I will shake the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

7and I will shake all nations, and the choice ⁴portions of all the nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord Almighty.

8Mine is the silver, and mine the gold, saith the Lord Almighty.

9For the glory of this house shall be great, the latter more than the former, saith the Lord Almighty: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord Almighty, even peace of soul for ⁵a possession to every one that builds, to raise up this temple.

10On the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Aggæus the prophet, saying,

11Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Inquire now of the priests concerning the law, saying,

12If a man should take holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and the skirt of his garment should touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be ⁶holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

13And Aggæus said, If a defiled person who is unclean by reason of a dead body, touch any of these, shall it be defiled? And the priests answered and said, It shall be defiled.

14And Aggæus answered and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so are all the works of their hands: and whosoever shall approach them, shall be defiled [ ⁷because of their early burdens: they shall be pained because of their toils; and ye have hated him that reproved in the gates].

15And now consider, I pray you, from this day and beforetime, before they laid a stone on a stone in the temple of the Lord, what manner of men ye were.

16When ye cast into the corn-bin twenty measures of barley, and there were only ten measures of barley: and ye went ⁸to the vat to draw out fifty measures, and there were but twenty.

17I smote you with barrenness, and with blasting, and all the works of your hands with hail; yet ye returned not to me, saith the Lord.

18Set your hearts now to think from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day when the foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid;

19consider in your hearts, whether this shall be known on the corn-floor, and whether yet the vine, and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-trees that bear no fruit are with you: from this day will I bless you.

20And the word of the Lord came the second time to Aggæus the prophet, on the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,

21Speak to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Juda, saying, I shake the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

22and I will overthrow the thrones of kings, and I will destroy the power of the kings of the nations; and I will overthrow chariots and riders; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword striving against his brother.

23In that day, saith the Lord Almighty, I will take thee, O Zorobabel, the son of Salathiel, my servant, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a seal: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord Almighty.