Give Us A King

Luke 19:37-44

37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God

I Samuel 8:4-22

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, 7 and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9 Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

10 So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; 12 and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. 15 He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. 16 He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, 20 so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 When Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them.” Samuel then said to the people of Israel, “Each of you return home.”

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God.

For the past 40 days and nights, our congregation’s worship and study life has been consumed by the Judges. We worked our way through the temptations to worship and serve other gods, to the ministry of the prophetess Deborah, through Gideon’s faithless testing of the LORD, to Gideons idol-destroying offerings, through the self-righteous spiritual blindness of Micah and his hired priest. Things did not improve as we moved through the book.

At Lenten lunch, we studied different stories, starting with the effective establishment of justice under Othniel, moving through the dark comedy of Jael’s assassination of Israel’s enemy, stopping at the corrupt and oppressive rule of Gideon’s son Abimelech, and ending with a text of terror as the Israelites descend into wanton wickedness. Things moved from bad to worse, worse came to worst, and the worst became uninterrupted horror.

Forty days and nights we’ve lived in this period of the Judges, and I’ve never been more grateful to get to Holy Week. Jesus, when do we ride into Jerusalem? Can’t we just find forgiveness at your feet instead of sinking further into the stories of human terribleness we’ve lived with for the past forty days and nights? Jesus, when do we ride into Jerusalem so that you can take away our sins and we won’t have to stare at them twice a week every week? Jesus, when do we ride into Jerusalem so you can govern us and go out before us and fight our battles, and make us like others?

Forty days and nights...

But the period of the Judges lasts a little longer than the Book of Judges. Samuel and his sons were judges over Israel, until “all the elders of Israel came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, ‘You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.’ But they thing displeased Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to govern us.’”

Like other nations? The whole POINT of the Israelites is that they were supposed to be different. They had experienced life under Pharaoh’s kingship when they were slaves in Egypt, they were supposed to have no king but the LORD. The Israelites were supposed to be different, a priestly nations who would show all the nations of the world that the LORD alone is God.

And yet, after trying and failing at faithfulness for generations, “Give us a king.” After being delivered by the LORD again and again for generations, “like other nations.” So Samuel, like Deborah a judge and a prophet, takes their request to the LORD.

“The LORD said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so listen to their voice.’”

It’s not about Samuel. Even though the people have focused on Samuel “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways,” God doesn’t let Samuel take on the burden of the people’s unfaithfulness. It’s not about Samuel, it’s about the failure of the covenant community to commit to following the LORD in joy and in grief. The people trust Samuel, but he is old. The people do not trust that God will appoint another leader to take his place once he’s gone. “There is indignation and pathos in the voice of [the LORD], who knows better but is exhausted with this people which insists on its own way.” For forty days and nights we have watching the people of Israel abandon the LORD who liberates them and follow after other gods. It’s not about Samuel, and it’s nothing new.

Samuel, at the LORD’s instruction, warns the people about what a king will mean. “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you…” he will take and he will take and he will take. Samuel anticipates the failed kingship of Saul, the polluted kingship of David, the corrupted kingship of Solomon, the divisive kingship of Rehoboam, the faithless and incompetent lines of kings in Israel and Judah, and the final failure of the monarchy with disaster and destruction at the hands of Assyria and Babylon. The kings take and take and take, “And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The people have chosen a king for themselves, and the unavoidable consequence of getting what they ask for is separation from God. They will suffer when their request is permitted. One commentator put it this way:

“The monarchy substitutes human power for the availability of [the LORD]. There are certain circumstances in which [the LORD] will not function. In choosing monarchy, Israel chooses a desperate autonomy that can lead only to futility, abandonment, and eventually death.”

Choosing a king, like other nations, to govern and wage war, distances us from the LORD, which in turn leads to suffering. Doesn’t matter if your king is appointed, inherited, anointed, or elected. If your king is ANYONE other that God, this is the result.

I have not really enjoyed this trip through Judges, which is unusual for me when I do a deep study of scripture. Judges is often bereft of good news. The good news comes later, in other parts of scripture, but the stories of Judges themselves seem to be limited to showing that God is steadfast even when we least deserve it.

While that’s good news, and worth praise and celebration, it is troubling how easily these stories of misbehaving people of God parallel with the stories we hear on the evening news. It does not speak well of the world in which we are living that we recognize the stories of the Judges around us.

Forty days and nights we’ve lived with these stories, and the end of the period of the Judges ends with God allowing the people to abandon the rule of their LORD for the sake of a human king.

When at last, at the gates of Jerusalem, the people finally see the king that they need, who was promised, they don’t even recognize him. “As [Jesus] came near and saw the city [of Jerusalem], he wept over it, saying, “‘f you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’” Jesus, the blessed king who comes in the name of the Lord, about whom the stones would shout, is welcomed at first. But even his closest followers do not understand what is to come.

The distance between “Blessed is the king” and “Crucify him” is one week. That’s the week in which we’re living now. Songs of praise will turns to shouts of castigation before the end.

“And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” The people’s cries will change from “Give us a king” to “Give us Barabbas” and the king himself will cry out “Father, into your hands I commend my sprit.” But the LORD will not answer him in that day.

Forty days and nights we’ve lived with the Judges. Now it is Holy Week, and we are headed to the cross of Jesus.

There, against all expectation, we will at last find faith and hope.

Right in their own eyes

Philippians 2:1-13

1If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 

6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. 9Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God

Judges 17:1-13

1There was a man in the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and even spoke it in my hearing,—that silver is in my possession; I took it; but now I will return it to you." And his mother said, "May my son be blessed by the Lord!" 3Then he returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, "I consecrate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make an idol of cast metal." 4So when he returned the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into an idol of cast metal; and it was in the house of Micah. 5This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and installed one of his sons, who became his priest. 6In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes. 

7Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the clan of Judah. He was a Levite residing there. 8This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah, to live wherever he could find a place. He came to the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim to carry on his work. 9Micah said to him, "From where do you come?" He replied, "I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to live wherever I can find a place." 10Then Micah said to him, "Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your living."

11The Levite agreed to stay with the man; and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12So Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13Then Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because the Levite has become my priest."

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God.

Idol Threats

Luke 19:41-44

41As [Jesus] came near and saw [Jerusalem], he wept over it, 42saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43Indeed, the days will come upon yo, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leaven within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God

Judges 6:25-32

That night the LORD said to [Gideon], “Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred pole that is beside it, 26and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of the stronghold here, in proper order; then take the second bull, and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the sacred pole that you shall cut down.” 27So Gideon took ten of his servants, and did as the LORD had told him; but because he was too afraid of his family and the townspeople to do it by day, he did it by night.

28When the townspeople rose early in the morning, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the sacred pole beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. 29So they said to one another, “Who has done this?” After searching and inquiring, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.” 30Then the townspeople said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so that he may die, for he has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the sacred pole beside it.” 31But Joash said to all who were arrayed against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you defend his cause? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been pulled down.” 32Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he pulled down his altar.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God.

Testing 1, 2, 3,

Luke 4: 1-2, 9-13

1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.

9Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,

11and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

12Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the LORD you God to the test.’” 13When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until and opportune time.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God

Judges 6:12-18, 36-40

12The angel of the LORD appeared to [Gideon] and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior.” 13Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver ISrael from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” 15He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” 16The LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.” 17Then he said to him, “If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.”

36Then Gideon said to God, “In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing room floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said. 38And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it by dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God.

Expecting Nothing

Genesis 45:3-11, 15

3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

4Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5And now, do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. 10You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11I will provide for your there - since there are five more years of famine to come - so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.

15And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God

Luke 6:27-38

27”But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God.

I was talking with someone after Lunch Bunch on Tuesday, and we got to talking about hymn selections in worship. Each week, I pick the hymns for the upcoming Sunday. While sometimes they’re just my favorite hymns, and other times they’re requests from the congregation, every once and a while, every once and a while, the middle hymn is the final refrain of my sermon.

Not often, but every once in a while, I put the conclusion of my sermon into your mouths and have y’all sing the good news to which I’ve tried to point. This morning, however,

This morning we reached back two months and grabbed a Christmas hymn, and lifted our voices out of season to sing “What child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping.” This is the child who grew up to fulfill God’s promises. “But I say to you that listen, Love you enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”

The warm feelings of Christmas have consequences, and they don’t stop when the decorations and wrapping paper finally make it back into the attic. The Son of Mary is also the Son of Man. “If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.”

So this Sunday, our opening hymn is also the introduction to the sermon. Remember when we all cooed at how cute the little baby is? Remember when we sang silent night, holy night? The calm and quiet has given way to commandments and challenging faith. “Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

This, this is Christ the king, whom shepherds guarded and angels sang. This commandment is difficult, it cuts across the grain of human nature. 

Human nature is to love those who love us. Human nature is to do good to those who do good to us. Human nature is to lend to those from whom we hope to receive. None of those are bad things, they’re just the bare minimum. Doing these things makes us feel good about ourselves. But it leads to the divided culture in which we live.

If I love those who love me, then we end up with a very loving group, but it becomes almost impossible for anyone new to join that group. The love becomes a barrier, and the group closes itself off from the world. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” When we do good to those who do good to us, we end up with a group that thinks of itself as warm and generous, but nobody else knows the goodness they can do, and the needs around us are increasingly unmet. “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.” When we lend only to those from whom we hope to receive, then we end up sharing things, but only with those whose gifts we value. Those who don’t fit, who have little to offer, or things to offer we hadn’t considered, are excluded. “If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.”

The whole fabric of human society is built on these kinds of social contracts. I will love you, if you love me. I will do good to you, if you do good to me. I will lend to you if you will return to me. But the social contracts are stained by the same sin that makes our salvation necessary. Two political parties who see one another as the enemy are the result. Divided groups who refuse to do good because there’s a chance the good might benefit one group more than the other. Haves and Have-nots grow increasingly distant from one another and each begins to resent the other.

It’s human nature to expect something in return for our efforts. We expect a reward for our good works. We expect others to get punished for their failures. We go to heaven, our enemies go to hell. It’s human nature to expect that. 

But then we look again, more closely, at this passage.

There’s no if/then in this passage. Jesus’s verbs for how his listeners ought to act are not in the mood for that conditional possibility. We do not trade or bargain for the reward we are promised. We only receive what God has given us, “for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” God has elected to be merciful to us unconditionally. “Christian behavior and relationships are prompted by the God we worship who does not react but acts in love and grace toward all.”

Jesus is the embodied love of God. His command is for us to embody our love. Speaking love is not enough. Thinking love is not enough. Feeling love is not enough. Embodied love takes you mind, your heart, your cheek, your shirt, your generosity, your goods, your whole self. If you do all of these things, you can still expect nothing to change. Faith is not about changing the world, that’s God’s office. Faith is about responding to what God is doing in the world, especially the mercy God has already given us. When a Christian acts like a Christian, we’re not investing in good behavior, we’re showing grace. We are saying “this, this is Christ the king.” Loving even through he knows it will lead to his execution. Showing kindness to the ungrateful and the wicked is how the king of kings salvation brings.

Sometimes, loving our enemies will change them. But not often. Jesus tells us that we’re supposed to love them expecting nothing in return. After all, he loved his enemies from the very beginning, and the crowds still turned on him before the end. Sometimes loving our enemies will change them, but much more often, loving our enemies changes us. Loving our enemies brings us more closely in line with the will of God who loves us, God who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

You do not belong to your abuser, your hater, your curser, or your enemy. You belong to God in Christ. Their abuse does not define you. Their hatred does not limit you. Their curses and opposition don’t weaken you. You belong to God in Christ, who frees you to love them as Christ loves you.

Do what Jesus tells us to do, not because we’ll earn some new reward or avoid some new punishment. “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” We have already been shown grace, kindness, and steadfast love beyond what we could ask or even imagine. Do what Jesus commands because he’s Jesus, the embodiment of God’s love, who has claimed you forever even though we had him executed for challenging our human nature. God has chosen to love you, to love y’all, to love us, simply because God chooses to. Therefore, as Jesus promises, “Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” God has already redeemed us. So let’s act like it.

Woe Now!

Jeremiah 15:5-10

5Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will bemoan you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

6You have rejected me, says the LORD, you are going backward; so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you - I am weary of relenting.

7I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them, I have destroyed my people; they did not turn from their ways.

8Their widows became more numerous than the sand of the seas; I have brought against the mothers of youths a destroyer at noonday; I have made anguish and terror fall upon her suddenly.

9She who bore seven has languished; she has swooned away; her sun went down while it was yet day; she has been shamed and disgraced. And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, says the LORD.

10Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God

Luke 6:17-26

17He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

20Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

24But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God.

Empty Nets Filled

Haggai 2:1-9

In the second year of King Darius, 1 in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, 3 Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? 4 Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; 7 and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the Lord of hosts.

This is the Word of the LORD.

Thanks be to God.