Atlas Biblica

    Haggai · 23 verses

    Haggai 2

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    The priests are asked whether holiness travels as easily as defilement. It does not: consecrated meat leaves bread, stew, wine, oil, and every other food quite ordinary, while a defiled touch spoils the lot. Haggai then produces the chapter’s unnervingly precise accounts: twenty ephahs become ten, and fifty baths become twenty.

    A house that looks like nothingvv. 1–9

    Haggai brings a word to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant: some among them remember the house in its former glory, and the present sight seems almost comically diminished by comparison. Yet the command is brisk rather than decorative: be strong, work, and do not fear. The heavens, earth, sea, dry land, and nations are all to be shaken, until this house is filled with glory. The gold and silver, rather grandly, already have an owner.

    The one-way journey of holinessvv. 10–19

    On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, Haggai turns to the priests for a ruling. Consecrated meat cannot make other food holy, but contact with defilement can make it defiled; Haggai applies the asymmetry to the people, their work, and their offerings. The harvest figures have suffered accordingly: expected quantities shrink with almost bureaucratic exactness, despite blight, mildew, and hail. Then the foundation of the temple is named as the hinge of the matter, and the promise changes direction: from this day on, blessing.

    The signet ringvv. 20–23

    A second word arrives that same day, addressed to Zerubbabel. Thrones, kingdoms, chariots, horses, and riders are all due for a violent rearrangement, with brothers turning swords upon brothers. Against that enormous shaking, Zerubbabel is given a remarkably small and personal image: the LORD will take him as a servant and make him like a signet ring, because he has been chosen.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Hag 2:1On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying:

    2. Hag 2:2“Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and also to the remnant of the people. Ask them,

    3. Hag 2:3‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not appear to you like nothing in comparison?’

    4. Hag 2:4But now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work! For I am with you, declares the LORD of Hosts.

    5. Hag 2:5This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt. And My Spirit remains among you; do not be afraid.”

    6. Hag 2:6For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.

    7. Hag 2:7I will shake all the nations, and they will come with all their treasures, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of Hosts.

    8. Hag 2:8The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, declares the LORD of Hosts.

    9. Hag 2:9The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says the LORD of Hosts. And in this place I will provide peace, declares the LORD of Hosts.”

    10. Hag 2:10On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Haggai the prophet, saying,

    11. Hag 2:11“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Ask the priests for a ruling.

    12. Hag 2:12If a man carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and it touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any other food, does that item become holy?’” “No,” replied the priests.

    13. Hag 2:13So Haggai asked, “If one who is defiled by contact with a corpse touches any of these, does it become defiled?” “Yes, it becomes defiled,” the priests answered.

    14. Hag 2:14Then Haggai replied, “So it is with this people and this nation before Me, declares the LORD, and so it is with every work of their hands; whatever they offer there is defiled.

    15. Hag 2:15Now consider carefully from this day forward: Before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the LORD,

    16. Hag 2:16from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.

    17. Hag 2:17I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the LORD.

    18. Hag 2:18Consider carefully from this day forward—from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the day the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid—consider carefully:

    19. Hag 2:19Is there still seed in the barn? The vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yet yielded fruit. But from this day on, I will bless you.”

    20. Hag 2:20For the second time that day, the twenty-fourth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to Haggai, saying,

    21. Hag 2:21“Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am about to shake the heavens and the earth:

    22. Hag 2:22I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overturn chariots and their riders; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.

    23. Hag 2:23On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, 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 of Hosts.”

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 262 passages were voted onto 22 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 8Psalms 50:10–12for every beast of the forest is Mine—the cattle on a thousand hills.
    • 8Psalms 24:1A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.
    • 19Malachi 3:10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.
    • 9Psalms 85:8–9I will listen to what God the LORD will say; for He will surely speak peace to His people and His saints; He will not let them return to folly.
    • 19Habakkuk 3:17–18Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls,
    • 19Proverbs 3:9–10Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops;
    • 19Matthew 6:33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
    • 41 Chronicles 28:20David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do it. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you before all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.
    • 19Zechariah 8:11–15But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
    • 19Genesis 26:12Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him,
    • 23Isaiah 43:10“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, and after Me none will come.
    • 6Hebrews 12:26–28At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth, but heaven as well.”
    • 19Deuteronomy 15:10Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.
    • 19Psalms 84:12O LORD of Hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!
    • 19Psalms 128:1–5A song of ascents. Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in His ways!
    • 7Malachi 3:1“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts.

    Onward

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