The Covenant in Moab

¹These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.

²Moses summoned all Israel and proclaimed to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land.

³You saw with your own eyes the great trials, and those miraculous signs and wonders.

⁴Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.

⁵For forty years I led you in the wilderness,yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.

⁶You ate no bread and drank no wine or strong drink,so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.

⁷When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.

⁸We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁹So keep and follow the words of this covenant, that you may prosper in all you do.

¹⁰All of you are standing today before the LORD your God—you leaders of tribes,elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,

¹¹your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water—

¹²so that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you today, and into His oath,

¹³and so that He may establish you today as His people, and He may be your God as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you,

¹⁵but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God, as well as with those who are not here today.

¹⁶For you yourselves know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we passed through the nations on the way here.

¹⁷You saw the abominations and idols among them made of wood and stone, of silver and gold.

¹⁸Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

¹⁹because when such a person hears the words of this oath,he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

²⁰The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven

²¹and single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

²²Then the generation to come—your sons who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land—will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it.

²³All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.

²⁴So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’

²⁵And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

²⁶They went and served other gods, and they worshiped gods they had not known—gods that the LORD had not given to them.

²⁷Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against this land, and He brought upon it every curse written in this book.

²⁸The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’

²⁹The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.

The Coming Glory of God’s House

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

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‘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?’

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Blessings for a Defiled People

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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:

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.”

Zerubbabel the LORD’s Signet Ring

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

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

²²I will overturn royal thronesand destroy the powerof 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.

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.”

A Call to Rebuild the Temple

¹In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak,the high priest, stating

²that this is what the LORD of Hosts says:“These people say, ‘The time has not yet cometo rebuild the house of the LORD.’”

³Then the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying:

⁴“Is it a time for you yourselvesto live in your paneled houses,while this house lies in ruins?”

⁵Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says:“Consider carefully your ways.

⁶You have planted muchbut harvested little.You eat but never have enough.You drink but never have your fill.You put on clothes but never get warm.You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”

⁷This is what the LORD of Hosts says:“Consider carefully your ways.

⁸Go up into the hills,bring down lumber, and build the house,so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,says the LORD.

⁹You expected much,but behold, it amounted to little.And what you brought home, I blew away.Why? declares the LORD of Hosts.Because My house still lies in ruins,while each of you is busywith his own house.

¹⁰Therefore, on account of youthe heavens have withheld their dewand the earth has withheld its crops.

¹¹I have summoned a droughton the fields and on the mountains,on the grain, new wine, and oil,and on whatever the ground yields,on man and beast,and on all the labor of your hands.”

The People Obey

¹²Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. So the people feared the LORD.

¹³Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, delivered the message of the LORD to the people:“I am with you,”declares the LORD.

¹⁴So the LORD stirred the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and began the work on the house of the LORD of Hosts, their God,

¹⁵on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

Give Thanks to the LORD, for He Is Good

¹Hallelujah!Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;His loving devotion endures forever.

²Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORDor fully proclaim His praise?

³Blessed are those who uphold justice,who practice righteousness at all times.

⁴Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people;visit me with Your salvation,

⁵that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,and give glory with Your inheritance.

⁶We have sinned like our fathers;we have done wrong and acted wickedly.

⁷Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wondersor remember Your abundant kindness;but they rebelled by the sea,there at the Red Sea.

⁸Yet He saved them for the sake of His name,to make His power known.

⁹He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;He led them through the depths as through a desert.

¹⁰He saved them from the hand that hated them;He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

¹¹The waters covered their foes;not one of them remained.

¹²Then they believed His promisesand sang His praise.

¹³Yet they soon forgot His worksand failed to wait for His counsel.

¹⁴They craved intensely in the wildernessand tested God in the desert.

¹⁵So He granted their request,but sent a wasting disease upon them.

¹⁶In the camp they envied Moses,as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.

¹⁷The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;it covered the assembly of Abiram.

¹⁸Then fire blazed through their company;flames consumed the wicked.

¹⁹At Horebthey made a calfand worshiped a molten image.

²⁰They exchanged their Gloryfor the image of a grass-eating ox.

²¹They forgot God their Savior,who did great things in Egypt,

²²wondrous works in the land of Ham,and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

²³So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen onestood before Him in the breachto divert His wrath from destroying them.

²⁴They despised the pleasant land;they did not believe His promise.

²⁵They grumbled in their tentsand did not listen to the voice of the LORD.

²⁶So He raised His hand and sworeto cast them down in the wilderness,

²⁷to dispersetheir offspring among the nationsand scatter them throughout the lands.

²⁸They yoked themselves to Baal of Peorand ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.

²⁹So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds,and a plague broke out among them.

³⁰But Phinehas stood and intervened,and the plague was restrained.

³¹It was credited to him as righteousnessfor endless generations to come.

³²At the waters of Meribahthey angered the LORD,and trouble came to Moses because of them.

³³For they rebelled against His Spirit,and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.

³⁴They did not destroy the peoplesas the LORD had commanded them,

³⁵but they mingled with the nationsand adopted their customs.

³⁶They worshiped their idols,which became a snare to them.

³⁷They sacrificed their sonsand their daughters to demons.

³⁸They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters,whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,and the land was polluted with blood.

³⁹They defiled themselves by their actionsand prostituted themselves by their deeds.

⁴⁰So the anger of the LORD burned against His people,and He abhorred His own inheritance.

⁴¹He delivered them into the hand of the nations,and those who hated them ruled over them.

⁴²Their enemies oppressed themand subdued them under their hand.

⁴³Many times He rescued them,but they were bent on rebellionand sank down in their iniquity.

⁴⁴Nevertheless He heard their cry;He took note of their distress.

⁴⁵And He remembered His covenant with them,and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.

⁴⁶He made them objects of compassionto all who held them captive.

⁴⁷Save us, O LORD our God,and gather us from the nations,that we may give thanks to Your holy name,that we may glory in Your praise.

⁴⁸Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,from everlasting to everlasting.Let all the people say, “Amen!”Hallelujah!