Ezr 5:1-2, Hag 1:12-14, 2:2-15, Zec 2-4, Zec 6 | ESV | STEP | Now the prophets , Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo , prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem , in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.

1 Now the prophets, ^aHaggai and ^bZechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 2 ^cThen Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and ^dJeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were ^ewith them, supporting them.

Haggai 1:12-14

The People Obey the Lord

12 ^fThen ^gZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and ^hJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all ⁱthe remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, ^j“I am with you, declares the Lord.” 14 And ^kthe Lord stirred up the spirit of ^lZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of ^mJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all ⁿthe remnant of the people. And they came and ^oworked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,

Haggai 2:2-15

2 “Speak now to ^pZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to ^qJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 ^r‘Who is left among you who saw this house ^sin its former glory? How do you see it now? ^tIs it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now ^ube strong, O ^vZerubbabel, declares the Lord. ^wBe strong, O ^xJoshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. ^yBe strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. ^zWork, for ^aaI am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 ^abaccording to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. ^acMy Spirit remains in your midst. ^adFear not. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: ^aeYet once more, in a little while, ^afI will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and ^agI will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 ^ahThe silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 ^aiThe latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And ^ajin this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”

Blessings for a Defiled People

10 ^akOn the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, ^alin the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, 11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^amAsk the priests about the law: 12 ‘If someone carries ^anholy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” The priests answered and said, ^ao“No.” 13 Then Haggai said, ^ap“If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body ^aqtouches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” 14 Then Haggai answered and said, ^ar“So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. 15 Now then, ^asconsider from this day onward. ^{▼▼Or backward; also verse 18} Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord,

Zechariah 2

A Vision of a Man with a Measuring Line

1 ^{▼▼Ch 2:5 in Hebrew} And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, ^ava man with a measuring line in his hand! 2 Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, ^aw“To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” 3 And behold, ^axthe angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him 4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ^ay‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited ^azas villages without walls, because of ^bathe multitude of people and livestock in it. 5 And I will be to her ^bba wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”

6 Up! Up! ^bcFlee from the land of the north, declares the Lord. For I have ^bdspread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. 7 ^beUp! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me ^{▼▼Or he sent me after glory} to the nations who plundered you, ^bgfor he who touches you touches ^bhthe apple of his eye: 9 “Behold, ^biI will shake my hand over them, ^bjand they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then ^bkyou will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. 10 ^blSing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for ^bmbehold, I come ^bnand I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. 11 ^boAnd many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. ^bpAnd I will dwell in your midst, and ^bqyou shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 12 ^brAnd the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again ^bschoose Jerusalem.”

13 Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

Zechariah 3

A Vision of Joshua the High Priest

1 Then he showed me ^btJoshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and ^buSatan ^{▼▼Hebrew the Accuser or the Adversary} standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, ^bw“The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has ^bxchosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this ^bya brand ^{▼▼That is, a burning stick} plucked from the fire?” 3 Now ^caJoshua was standing before the angel, ^cbclothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to ^ccthose who were standing before him, ^cd“Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, ^ceI have taken your iniquity away from you, and ^cfI will clothe you with pure vestments.” 5 And I said, ^cg“Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.

6 And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured ^chJoshua, 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and ^cikeep my charge, then you shall ^cjrule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among ^ckthose who are standing here. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for ^clthey are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring ^cmmy servant ^cnthe Branch. 9 For behold, on ^cothe stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with ^cpseven eyes, ^{▼▼Or facets} I will ^crengrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and ^csI will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come ^ctunder his vine and under his fig tree.”

Zechariah 4

A Vision of a Golden Lampstand

1 And ^cuthe angel who talked with me came again ^cvand woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, ^cwa lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and ^cxseven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. 3 And there are ^cytwo olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4 And I said to ^czthe angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, ^da“Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to ^dbZerubbabel: ^dcNot by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 7 Who are you, ^ddO great mountain? Before ^deZerubbabel ^dfyou shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward ^dgthe top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”

8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 ^dh“The hands of ^diZerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also ^djcomplete it. ^dkThen you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 10 ^dlFor whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see ^dmthe plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

^dn“These seven ^doare the eyes of the Lord, ^dpwhich range through the whole earth.” 11 Then I said to him, “What are these ^dqtwo olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” 12 And a second time I answered and said to him, “What are these ^drtwo branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil ^{▼▼Hebrew lacks oil} is poured out?” 13 He said to me, ^dt“Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 14 Then he said, ^du“These are the two anointed ones ^{▼▼Hebrew two sons of new oil} who stand by ^dwthe Lord of the whole earth.”

Zechariah 6

A Vision of Four Chariots

1 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of ^dxbronze. 2 The first chariot had ^dyred horses, the second ^dzblack horses, 3 the third ^eawhite horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses—all of them strong. ^{▼▼Or and the fourth chariot strong dappled horses} 4 Then I answered and said to ^ecthe angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 And the angel answered and said to me, ^ed“These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after ^eepresenting themselves before ^efthe Lord of all the earth. 6 The chariot with the black horses goes toward ^egthe north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward ^ehthe south country.” 7 When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and ^eipatrol the earth. And he said, “Go, ^ejpatrol the earth.” ^ekSo they patrolled the earth. 8 Then he cried to me, “Behold, those who go toward ^elthe north country have set my Spirit at rest in ^emthe north country.”

The Crown and the Temple

9 And the word of the Lord came to me: 10 “Take from the exiles ^enHeldai, Tobijah, and ^eoJedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of ^epZephaniah. 11 Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, ^eqand set it on the head of ^erJoshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12 And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is ^esthe Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and ^ethe shall build the temple of the Lord. 13 ^euIt is he who shall build the temple of the Lord ^evand shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a ^ewpriest on his throne, ^exand the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ 14 And the crown shall be in the temple of the Lord as ^eya reminder to ^ezHelem, ^{▼▼An alternate spelling of Heldai (verse 10)} ^fbTobijah, ^fcJedaiah, and Hen ^fdthe son of Zephaniah.

15 ^fe“And those who are far off shall come and ^ffhelp to build the temple of the Lord. ^fgAnd you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. ^fhAnd this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”