A Bible You Might Actually Read

Haggai


In the second year of Darius the king came the word of the Lord by Haggai (Hag-ee-eye), the prophet unto Zerubbabel (zeh-RUH-buh-bell) the son of Shealtiel (shee-AL-tih-ehl), Governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech (yeh-hoh-tsaw-DAWK), the high priest, saying:

“Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts: ‘This people say 'the time is not come that the Lord's House should be built’’”

Is it time for you to dwell in your cieled houses and this house lie waste?

Ye have sown much and bring in little.

Ye clothed you, but there is none warm and he that earnest wages put it into a bag with holes.

Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it and be glorified.

You looked for much and it came to little. Why? Because of mine house that is waste.

Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the Earth is stayed from her fruit.

I called for a drought upon the land and mountains; upon the corn, wine, and oil.

Then Zerubbabel and Joshua with all the remnant of the people did fear before the Lord.

Then spake Haggai: “‘I Am with You’ saith the Lord.’”

The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the people and they did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, in the second year of Darius the king.

In the seventh month came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, “Who is left that saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

Zerubbabel, Joshua, be strong and work; for I Am with You.

I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory.

The silver and gold is mine.

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former and in this place will I give peace.

In the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts 'Ask the priests: If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment and with his skirt do touch bread, pottage, wine, oil, or meat; shall it be holy?’” and the priest answered, “No.”

Then said Haggai, “If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean?” and the priest answered, “It shall."

Haggai said, “‘So is this people and nation' saith the Lord, 'Every work of their hands which they offer is unclean.

From this day, before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple, when one came to the pressfat to draw out 50 vessels, there were but 20.

I smote you with blasting, mildew, and hail, yet ye turned not to me.

Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine, fig tree, pomegranate, and olive tree have not brought forth from this day will I bless you.

Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‘I will overthrow the kingdoms of the Heathen. The chariots, horses, and their riders shall come down by the sword of his brother.

In that day, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel , and make thee as a signet. For I have chosen thee.’”


569 words


Audio:
drive.google.com/file/d/1aXh0PabpccrJxSdP4vOb9L4yIrG1TEZY/view?usp=sharing

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ORIGINAL - King James Version


1168 words

www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Haggai+1-2&version=KJV

1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,

2 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.

3 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,

4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.

9 Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.

10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.

11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord.

13 Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord.

14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,

15 In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

2 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying,

2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,

3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts:

5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.

6 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.

8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.

9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

10 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,

11 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

13 Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

14 Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.

15 And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord:

16 Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.

17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.

18 Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it.

19 Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.

20 And again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,

21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;

22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

23 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.

It goes without saying that if you are thinking in terms of doing a rewrite (revision) of the Bible you are taking on a Herculean task. The Bible was written over a 13 to 1800 year period. The 1st books are thought to be approximately 3400 years old and the last book, Revelations was written around 90 AD. Thought of a title yet? How about "The Newest Revised Condensed Non-Standard Edition Bible".

messagebible.com/

Eugene Peterson's "The Message" Bible, went back to the original texts and languages and retranslated them into contemporary vernacular.
As an atheistic and former English literature/Comms major - I found his work to be excellent.
Part of the task of translation isn't just a literal word for word replacement, but also an understanding of common metaphors for the period (which have been mistaken for literal meanings in King James - with frequent SIGNIFICANT changes in meaning - such as many things around the tale of the first Christmas - the "wise men" and the "Christmas star").

Also, prior to Jordan Peterson's more recent sociopolitical celebrity, he had a very long and widely cited series of papers and courses he taught on myth and symbols - focusing particularly on analyzing Christian mythos and the meanings of the the stories (which predate Christianity quite often). These lectures are available on youtube and were helpful in re-establishing my understanding of the meanings of these stories (and the importance of stories as a teaching tool), in an adult context - which was very different from what I had learned as a child - the whole approach was different. It helped me when I was in a relationship to a deeply Christian woman for a couple years, so I could meet her in the middle (as an atheist dating a very religious woman) to have meaningful conversations about these things.

My point in bringing him up is that his analysis of archetypal story structures and symbols within the context of Christian mythos is the third layer needed for the most "true" representation of intent in these works.

Anyway - The Message Bible version was the one used by the chapter of the United Church that my former partner belonged to. I found it approachable, and I found a great deal of confidence in the re-translations from the most original texts and context.

9/11.
Conservatives told me Muslims were bloodthirsty servants of Satan and we need to kill them all. Their holy book directs them to slaughter all infidels.
I read their holy book to understand my "enemy".
They are right. The book directs Muslim s to murder anyone who isn't Muslim.
It also says to peacefully co-exist and only defend yourself.
You get out of the Koran whichever message you want to. Some Muslims choose to justify murder of fellow worshippers of Allah. Some of them other Muslims.

Having done that, I chose to compare the books I am more aligned with )(but by no means closely.)
Discovering a wealth of material no one talks about, I grew angry that the Bible is badly censored by those in authority.
The Bible is full of negative examples to learn from and clergy seem to have utterly whiffed on that point.
King David was a horrible man, yet favored by God. Why? How can we even ask that question if we don't find out about his Machiavellian coveting of his literal neighbor's wife?

That was the motivation for doing this. (All three books are done with compression. Now they just need to be retyped without the extracted words. Preferably supplemented with audio so people can take it in during their commute.)

Motivation for posting, here?
Wanting to share what I think is work I think will please God to an audience with not a small share of people closely aligned with devotion.
I'm guessing religious sentiment contributes to a fair number of folk that stay in sexless marriages. We may have a higher percent of the devoted than the population at large.

It seemed a good fit for its intended audience and the "Off-Topic" forum, I felt, gave me license to try it out.
Y'all know me and it might pique more interest than just some Bible board with folks who may be offended I'd even try this.
My irreverent introduction would be enough to bring down pixelated fire and brimstone upon my head on some forums, I suspect.

Forgive my skepticism of the claim that paints "Conservatives" as directing you to slaughter all Muslims. I was cognizant of American news in 9/11 and I did not get this take from it. Somewhat ironic in a statement ostensibly criticizing the use of unfair stereotypes or characterizations of Islamists.

There are differences between these religions. One such difference is that the Koran and Hadith, unlike the New Testament, supply a scriptural imperative toward spreading Islam (or a particular sect of it) by conquest. Christianity does not. 

Perhaps I paint too broad a brush by citing Fox news talking heads and the nominee of the Republican party. If wide portions of conservative America disbelieved these claims, mea culpa. 

The Hadith, for those unfamiliar, are the interpretations of the Koran by Mohammed which the "prophet" himself, to his credit, did not claim to be divinely inspired. Oddly, Sharia (Muslim) law often levies penalties for crimes that are indicated by the Hadith, preferring them to penalties directed by the Koran, which Muslims supposedly believe to be actual words of God.  Like I say, Muslims take away from the Koran what they want to do in the first place, which can be both bad and good. 

I did a quick check on your conquest claim (because it was too long ago):
But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)...



from Qur'an 9:5

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book...



from Qur'an 9:29

So, yes. That is apparently divine commandment, if Mohammed is to be believed. 
I personally think he is not.

There are those Muslim-lite people who will not subdue and conquer those who eat pork, for example. They do not follow their holy book, word for word.

Similarly, there are an unfortunate number of Christians who would like to subdue and conquer those who do not worship Jesus as synonymous with, yet the son of God (that's not confusing, is it?) who also fail to follow their holy book, word for word.

Fox news, at that time was ahead of the curve. Today, CNN has copied and I'd argue exceeded Fox's strategy to "take the side" of who they think their audience is.
Fox, and certainly that particular host - did not represent the average conservative view in the US during that time - and I lived in the US at that time. But I'm not clear on what you are citing in the video clip, which points out that he likely conflated the video of many Palestinians celebrating 9/11 with a voice over that also ran on video with a few local Muslims also celebrating in NYC. At no point did anyone suggest a mass slaughter of Muslims.



No, but it is widely believed by large sects of Muslims to be a depiction of the perfect divine being, and someone to be copied in his example. So whether or not the text itself was divinely inspired, the example depicted within its depiction of Muhammed, is one to be followed, by large sects of Islam.




Whether you personally think Mohammed is to believed is not at issue.
My claim was that the Koran supplies a divine Scriptural imperative toward spreading Islam by conquest, whereas Christianity does not.
This is a factual difference between the religions as defined in their own texts.
There are many people of any faith who may part with their religion on specific issues, or impute beliefs that the documents do not actually supply.



You are substituting a new and different claim for the one being discussed. These are not similar claims.
What I said, was that the Koran supplies a divine Scriptural imperative toward spreading Islam by conquest, whereas Christianity does not.
I'm talking about the actual base text and whether or not people who wish to kill, conquer or subdue those who don't follow their faith can find justification or a mandate within their text.

In Christianity, there is no such justification in the text. There may be people who call themselves Christians who kill the name of Christianity - but if asked to find a Scriptural basis for it - it won't be there.

Whereas in Islam - there is clearly a textual documented imperative to do so, and more than one.