The People Are Defiled

¹⁰ On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ¹¹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Now, ^(A)ask the priests concerning the law, saying, ¹² “If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?” ’ ”

Then the priests answered and said, “No.”

¹³ And Haggai said, “If one who is ^(B)unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?”

So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.”

¹⁴ Then Haggai answered and said, ^(C)“ ‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.

Promised Blessing

¹⁵ ‘And now, carefully ^(D)consider from this day forward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord— ¹⁶ since those days, ^(E)when one came to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty. ^17 (F)I struck you with blight and mildew and hail ^(G)in all the labors of your hands; ^(H)yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from ^(I)the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid—consider it: ^19 (J)Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will ^(K)bless you.’ ”