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Psalm 145

1  I will exalt you, O God my King, ♦︎
   and bless your name for ever and ever.
2  Every day will I bless you ♦︎
   and praise your name for ever and ever.
3  Great is the Lord and highly to be praised; ♦︎
   his greatness is beyond all searching out.
4  One generation shall praise your works to another ♦︎
   and declare your mighty acts.
5  They shall speak of the majesty of your glory, ♦︎
   and I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
18  The Lord is righteous in all his ways ♦︎
   and loving in all his works.
19  The Lord is near to those who call upon him, ♦︎
   to all who call upon him faithfully.
20  He fulfils the desire of those who fear him; ♦︎
   he hears their cry and saves them.
21  The Lord watches over those who love him, ♦︎
   but all the wicked shall he destroy.
22  My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, ♦︎
   and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Haggai

The Command to Rebuild the Temple

1In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: ²Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house. ³Then the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: ⁴Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your panelled houses, while this house lies in ruins? ⁵Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. ⁶You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.

7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. ⁸Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord. ⁹You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses. ¹⁰Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the soil produces, on human beings and animals, and on all their labours.

12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of the prophet Haggai, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared the Lord. ¹³Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, saying, I am with you, says the Lord. ¹⁴And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, ¹⁵on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month.

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

20One day, as he was teaching the people in the temple and telling the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came with the elders ²and said to him, ‘Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?’ ³He answered them, ‘I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: ⁴Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ ⁵They discussed it with one another, saying, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say, “Why did you not believe him?” ⁶But if we say, “Of human origin”, all the people will stone us; for they are convinced that John was a prophet.’ ⁷So they answered that they did not know where it came from. ⁸Then Jesus said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’