¹Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. ²Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set out to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them.

³At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus, “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” ⁴They also asked them this, “What are the names of the men who are building this building?” ⁵But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until a report reached Darius and then answer was returned by letter in reply to it.

⁶The copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates the envoys who were in the province Beyond the River sent to King Darius; ⁷they sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace! ⁸May it be known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built of hewn stone, and timber is laid in the walls; this work is being done diligently and prospers in their hands. ⁹Then we spoke to those elders and asked them, ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ ¹⁰We also asked them their names, for your information, so that we might write down the names of the men at their head. ¹¹This was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. ¹²But because our ancestors had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. ¹³However, King Cyrus of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. ¹⁴Moreover, the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem and had brought into the temple of Babylon, these King Cyrus took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor. ¹⁵He said to him, “Take these vessels; go and put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.” ¹⁶Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem; and from that time until now it has been under construction, and it is not yet finished.’ ¹⁷And now, if it seems good to the king, have a search made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by King Cyrus for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. Let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”

¹   How lonely sits the city
          that once was full of people!
     How like a widow she has become,
          she that was great among the nations!
     She that was a princess among the provinces
          has become a vassal.

²She weeps bitterly in the night,
          with tears on her cheeks;
     among all her lovers
          she has no one to comfort her;
     all her friends have dealt treacherously with her,
          they have become her enemies.

³   Judah has gone into exile with suffering
          and hard servitude;
     she lives now among the nations,
          and finds no resting place;
     her pursuers have all overtaken her
          in the midst of her distress.

⁴   The roads to Zion mourn,
          for no one comes to the festivals;
     all her gates are desolate,
          her priests groan;
     her young girls grieve,
          and her lot is bitter.

⁵   Her foes have become the masters,
          her enemies prosper,
     because the LORD has made her suffer
          for the multitude of her transgressions;
     her children have gone away,
          captives before the foe.

⁶   From daughter Zion has departed
          all her majesty.
     Her princes have become like stags
          that find no pasture;
     they fled without strength
          before the pursuer.

⁷   Jerusalem remembers,
          in the days of her affliction and wandering,
     all the precious things
          that were hers in days of old.
     When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
          and there was no one to help her,
     the foe looked on mocking
          over her downfall.

⁸   Jerusalem sinned grievously,
          so she has become a mockery;
     all who honored her despise her,
          for they have seen her nakedness;
     she herself groans,
          and turns her face away.

⁹   Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
          she took no thought of her future;
     her downfall was appalling,
          with none to comfort her.
     “O LORD, look at my affliction,
          for the enemy has triumphed!”

¹⁰  Enemies have stretched out their hands
          over all her precious things;
     she has even seen the nations
          invade her sanctuary,
     those whom you forbade
          to enter your congregation.

¹¹  All her people groan
          as they search for bread;
     they trade their treasures for food
          to revive their strength.
     Look, O LORD, and see
          how worthless I have become.

¹²  Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
          Look and see
     if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
          which was brought upon me,
     which the LORD inflicted
          on the day of his fierce anger.

¹After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ²At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! ³And the one seated there looks like jasper and cornelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. ⁴Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. ⁵Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; ⁶and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: ⁷the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. ⁸And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,
     “Holy, holy, holy,
     the Lord God the Almighty,
          who was and is and is to come.”
⁹And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,
¹¹  “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
          to receive glory and honor and power,
     for you created all things,
          and by your will they existed and were created.”

¹That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. ²Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. ⁶But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹Let anyone with ears listen!”