Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 413
2:16-23
H a g g ai
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to lay the foundation of the Lord’s Temple. When you hoped for a twentybushel crop, you harvested only ten. When you expected to draw fifty gal
lons from the winepress, you found only twenty. I sent blight and mildew
and hail to destroy everything you worked so hard to produce. Even so,
you refused to return to me, says the Lord.
“Think about this eighteenth day of December, the day when the foun
dation of the Lord’s Temple was laid. Think carefully. I am giving you
a promise now while the seed is still in the barn. You have not yet har
vested your grain, and your grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive
trees have not yet produced their crops. But from this day onward I will
bless you.”
On that same day, December 18, the Lord sent this second message to
Haggai: “Tell Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, that I am about to shake
the heavens and the earth. I will overthrow royal thrones and destroy the
power of foreign kingdoms. I will overturn their chariots and riders. The
horses will fall, and their riders will kill each other.
“But when this happens, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, I will honor
you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant. I will make you like a signet
ring on my finger, says the Lord, for I have chosen you. I, the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”