The First Disciples of Jesus

John 1 ³⁵The next day, John was there again, and two of his followers were with him. ³⁶When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, "Here is the Lamb of God!" ³⁷John's two followers heard him, and they went with Jesus.
³⁸When Jesus turned and saw them, he asked, "What do you want?"
They answered, "Rabbi, where do you live?" The Hebrew word "Rabbi" means "Teacher."
³⁹Jesus replied, "Come and see!" It was already about four o'clock in the afternoon when they went with him and saw where he lived. So they stayed on for the rest of the day.
⁴⁰One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. ⁴¹The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, "We have found the Messiah!" The Hebrew word "Messiah" means the same as the Greek word "Christ."
⁴²Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, he said, "Simon son of John, you will be called Cephas." This name can be translated as "Peter."

Jesus Chooses Philip and Nathanael

^43-44The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, "Come with me."
⁴⁵Philip then found Nathanael and said, "We have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth."
⁴⁶Nathanael asked, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"
Philip answered, "Come and see."
⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, "Here is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn't deceitful."
⁴⁸"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."
⁴⁹Nathanael said, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!"
⁵⁰Jesus answered, "Did you believe me just because I said that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see something even greater. ⁵¹I tell you for certain that you will see heaven open and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man."

The People Who Returned from
Babylonia and Settled in Jerusalem

1 Chronicles 9 Everyone in Israel was listed in the official family records that were included in the history of Israel's kings.
The people of Judah were taken to Babylonia as prisoners because they sinned against the LORD. ²And the first people to return to their towns included priests, Levites, temple workers, and other Israelites. ³People from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh settled in Jerusalem.
^4-6There were six hundred ninety people from the Judah tribe who settled in Jerusalem. They were all descendants of Judah's three sons: Perez, Shelah, and Zerah. Their leaders were Uthai, Asaiah, and Jeuel. Uthai was the son of Ammihud and a descendant of Omri, Imri, Bani, and Perez. Asaiah was a descendant of Shelah; Jeuel was a descendant of Zerah.
^7-9There were also nine hundred fifty-six family leaders from the Benjamin tribe who settled in Jerusalem. They included: Sallu son of Meshullam, grandson of Hodaviah, and great-grandson of Hassenuah; Ibneiah son of Jeroham; Elah son of Uzzi and grandson of Michri; Meshullam son of Shephatiah, grandson of Reuel, and great-grandson of Ibnijah.

The Priests Who Settled in Jerusalem

^10-12Here is a list of priests who settled in Jerusalem: Jedaiah; Jehoiarib; Jachin; Azariah, who was a temple official, and whose ancestors included Hilkiah, Meshullam, Zadok, Meraioth, and Ahitub; Adaiah son of Jeroham, whose ancestors included Pashhur and Malchijah; Maasai son of Adiel, whose ancestors included Jahzerah, Meshullam, Meshillemith, and Immer.
¹³There was a total of 1,760 priests, all of them family leaders in their clan and trained in the work at the temple.

The Levites Who Settled in Jerusalem

^14-16Here is a list of Levites who settled in Jerusalem: Shemaiah from the Merari clan, whose ancestors included Hasshub, Azrikam, and Hashabiah; Bakbakkar; Heresh; Galal; Mattaniah son of Mica, whose ancestors included Zichri and Asaph; Obadiah son of Shemaiah, whose ancestors included Galal and Jeduthun; Berechiah son of Asa and grandson of Elkanah, who had lived in the villages near the town of Netophah.

The Temple Guards Who Settled in Jerusalem

¹⁷Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives were the guards at the temple gates. Shallum was the leader of this clan, ¹⁸and for a long time they had been the guards at the King's Gate on the east side of the city. Before that, their ancestors guarded the entrance to the Levite camp.
¹⁹Shallum son of Kore, as well as the other men in the Korahite clan, guarded the entrance to the temple, just as their ancestors had guarded the entrance to the sacred tent. ²⁰Phinehas son of Eleazar had supervised their work because the LORD was with him.
²¹Zechariah son of Meshelemiah was also one of the guards at the temple.
²²There was a total of two hundred twelve guards, all of them listed in the family records in their towns. Their ancestors had been chosen by King David and by Samuel the prophet to be responsible for this work, ²³and now they guarded the temple gates.
²⁴There was one full-time guard appointed to each of the four sides of the temple. ²⁵Their assistants lived in the villages outside the city, and every seven days a group of them would come into the city and take their turn at guard duty. ²⁶The four full-time guards were Levites, and they supervised the other guards and were responsible for the rooms in the temple and the supplies kept there. ²⁷They guarded the temple day and night and opened its doors every morning.

The Duties of the Levites

²⁸Some of the Levites were responsible for the equipment used in worship at the temple, and they had to count everything before and after it was used. ²⁹Others were responsible for the temple furnishings and its sacred objects, as well as the flour, wine, olive oil, incense, and spices. ³⁰But only the priests could mix the spices. ³¹Mattithiah, Shallum's oldest son, was a member of the Levite clan of Korah, and he was in charge of baking the bread used for offerings. ³²The Levites from the Kohath clan were in charge of baking the sacred loaves of bread for each Sabbath.
³³The Levite family leaders who were the musicians also lived at the temple. They had no other responsibilities, because they were on duty day and night.
³⁴All of these men were family leaders in the Levi tribe and were listed that way in their family records. They lived in Jerusalem.

King Saul's Family
(1 Chronicles 8.29-38)

³⁵Jeiel had settled the town of Gibeon, where he and his wife Maacah lived. ³⁶They had ten sons, who were born in the following order: Abdon, Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, ³⁷Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth ³⁸the father of Shimeam. Some of them went to live in Jerusalem near their relatives.
³⁹Ner was the father of Kish and the grandfather of King Saul.
Saul had four sons: Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal. ^40-41Jonathan was the father of Meribbaal, the grandfather of Micah, and the great-grandfather of Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and Ahaz. ^42-44The descendants of Ahaz included Jarah, Alemeth, Azmaveth, Zimri, Moza, Binea, Rephaiah, Eleasah, and Azel and his six sons: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan.

HAGGAI

Rebuild the Temple

Haggai 1 On the first day of the sixth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia, the LORD told Haggai the prophet to speak his message to the governor of Judah and to the high priest.
So Haggai told Governor Zerubbabel and High Priest Joshua ^2-5that the LORD All-Powerful had said to them and to the people:

You say this isn't the right time to build a temple for me. But is it right for you to live in expensive houses, while my temple is a pile of ruins? Just look at what's happening. ⁶You harvest less than you plant, you never have enough to eat or drink, your clothes don't keep you warm, and your wages are stored in bags full of holes.

⁷Think about what I have said! ⁸But first, go to the hills and get wood for my temple, so I can take pride in it and be worshiped there. ⁹You expected much, but received only a little. And when you brought it home, I made that little disappear. Why have I done this? It's because you hurry off to build your own houses, while my temple is still in ruins. ¹⁰That's also why the dew doesn't fall and your harvest fails. ¹¹And so, at my command everything will become barren--your farmland and pastures, your vineyards and olive trees, your animals and you yourselves. All your hard work will be for nothing.

¹²Zerubbabel and Joshua, together with the others who had returned from exile in Babylonia, obeyed the LORD's message spoken by his prophet Haggai, and they started showing proper respect for the LORD. ¹³ Haggai then told them that the LORD had promised to be with them. ¹⁴So the LORD God All-Powerful made everyone eager to work on his temple, especially Zerubbabel and Joshua. ¹⁵And the work began on the twenty-fourth day of that same month.

The Glorious New Temple

Haggai 2 ^1-2On the twenty-first day of the next month, the LORD told Haggai the prophet to speak this message to Governor Zerubbabel, High Priest Joshua, and everyone else:

³Does anyone remember how glorious this temple used to be? Now it looks like nothing. ⁴But cheer up! Because I, the LORD All-Powerful, will be here to help you with the work, ⁵just as I promised your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt. Don't worry. My Spirit is right here with you.

⁶Soon I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. ⁷I will shake the nations, and their treasures will be brought here. Then the brightness of my glory will fill this temple. ⁸All silver and gold belong to me, ⁹and I promise that this new temple will be more glorious than the first one. I will also bless this city with peace.

The Past and the Future

¹⁰On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the LORD God All-Powerful told the prophet Haggai ¹¹to ask the priests for their opinion on the following matter:

¹²Suppose meat ready to be sacrificed to God is being carried in the folds of someone's clothing, and the clothing rubs against some bread or stew or wine or olive oil or any other food. Would those foods that were touched then become acceptable for sacrifice?

"Of course not," the priests answered.
¹³Then Haggai said, "Suppose someone has touched a dead body and is considered unacceptable to worship God. If that person touches these foods, would they become unclean?"
"Of course they would," the priests answered.
¹⁴So the LORD told Haggai to say:

That's how it is with this entire nation. Everything you do and every sacrifice you offer is unacceptable to me. ¹⁵But from now on, things will get better. Before you started laying the foundation for the temple, ¹⁶you recalled what life was like in the past. When you wanted twenty bushels of wheat, there were only ten, and when you wanted fifty jars of wine, there were only twenty. ¹⁷I made all of your hard work useless by sending mildew, mold, and hail--but you still did not return to me, your LORD.

¹⁸Today you have completed the foundation for my temple, so listen to what your future will be like. ¹⁹Although you have not yet harvested any grain, grapes, figs, pomegranates, or olives, I will richly bless you in the days ahead.

God's Promise to Zerubbabel

²⁰That same day the LORD spoke to Haggai again and said:

²¹Tell Governor Zerubbabel of Judah that I am going to shake the heavens and the earth ²²and wipe out kings and their kingdoms. I will overturn war chariots, and then cavalry troops will start slaughtering each other. ²³But tell my servant Zerubbabel that I, the LORD All-Powerful, have chosen him, and he will rule in my name.