Aggæus. Chapter 1|2
- In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of
the month, the Lord spoke by Aggæus the prophet, saying,
- Speak now to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Juda,
and to [a] Jesus the son of Josedec, the
high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, saying,
- Who is there of you that saw this house in her former
glory? and how do ye now look upon it, as it were [b] nothing before your eyes?
- Yet now be strong, O Zorobabel, saith the Lord; and strengthen
thyself, O Jesus the high priest, the son of Josedee; and let all the
people of the land strengthen themselves, saith the Lord, and work,
for I am with you, saith the Lord Almighty;
- and my Spirit remains in the midst of you; be of good courage.
- For thus saith the Lord Almighty; [c]
Yet once I will shake the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the
dry land;
- and I will shake all nations, and the choice [d] portions of all the nations
shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord
Almighty.
- Mine is the silver, and mine the gold, saith the Lord Almighty.
- For 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 [e] a possesion to every one that builds, to
raise up this temple.
- On 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,
- Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Inquire now of the priests
concerning the law, saying,
- If 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 [f] holy?
And the priests answered and said, No.
- And 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.
- And 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 [h] [because of their early burdens: they
shall be pained because of their toils; and ye have hated him that
reproved in the gates].
- And 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.
- When ye cast into the corn-bin twenty measures of barley, and
there were only ten measures of barley: and ye went [i] to the vat to draw out fifty measures,
and there were but twenty.
- I 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.
- Set 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;
- consider 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.
- And the word of the Lord came the second time to Aggæus the
prophet, on the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,
- Speak 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;
- and 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.
- In 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.
[a] Or, Joshua.
[b] Gr. not existing.
[c] Heb 12. 26.
[d] Or, objects.
[e] Or, salvation.
[f] Gr. sanctified.
[h] Not in Hebrew.
[i] Gr. into.
[English translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee
Brenton (1807-1862) originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons,
Ltd., London, 1851]