Malachi 1 (ASV)

The burden of the word of Jehovah to Israel by Malachi.

I have loved you, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother, saith Jehovah: yet I loved Jacob;

but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.

Whereas Edom saith, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places; thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and men shall call them The border of wickedness, and The people against whom Jehovah hath indignation for ever.

And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, Jehovah be magnified beyond the border of Israel.

A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if then I am a father, where is mine honor? and if I am a master, where is my fear? saith Jehovah of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?

Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of Jehovah is contemptible.

And when ye offer the blind for sacrifice, it is no evil! and when ye offer the lame and sick, it is no evil! Present it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee? or will he accept thy person? saith Jehovah of hosts.

And now, I pray you, entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he accept any of your persons? saith Jehovah of hosts.

Oh that there were one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith Jehovah of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, saith Jehovah of hosts.

But ye profane it, in that ye say, The table of Jehovah is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even its food, is contemptible.

Ye say also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith Jehovah of hosts; and ye have brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye bring the offering: should I accept this at your hand? saith Jehovah.

But cursed be the deceiver, who hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a blemished thing; for I am a great King, saith Jehovah of hosts, and my name is terrible among the Gentiles.

Obadiah (RSV)

The vision of Obadi′ah.

Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom:
We have heard tidings from the Lord,
    and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
“Rise up! let us rise against her for battle!”
Behold, I will make you small among the nations,
    you shall be utterly despised.
The pride of your heart has deceived you,
    you who live in the clefts of the rock,
    whose dwelling is high,
who say in your heart,
    “Who will bring me down to the ground?”
Though you soar aloft like the eagle,
    though your nest is set among the stars,
    thence I will bring you down,
                says the Lord.

If thieves came to you,
    if plunderers by night—
    how you have been destroyed!—
    would they not steal only enough for themselves?
If grape gatherers came to you,
    would they not leave gleanings?
How Esau has been pillaged,
    his treasures sought out!
All your allies have deceived you,
    they have driven you to the border;
your confederates have prevailed against you;
    your trusted friends have set a trap under you—
    there is no understanding of it.
Will I not on that day, says the Lord,
    destroy the wise men out of Edom,
    and understanding out of Mount Esau?
And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman,
    so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.

For the violence done to your brother Jacob,
    shame shall cover you,
    and you shall be cut off for ever.
On the day that you stood aloof,
    on the day that strangers carried off his wealth,
and foreigners entered his gates
    and cast lots for Jerusalem,
    you were like one of them.
But you should not have gloated over the day of your brother
    in the day of his misfortune;
you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah
    in the day of their ruin;
you should not have boasted
    in the day of distress.
You should not have entered the gate of my people
    in the day of his calamity;
you should not have gloated over his disaster
    in the day of his calamity;
you should not have looted his goods
    in the day of his calamity.
You should not have stood at the parting of the ways
    to cut off his fugitives;
you should not have delivered up his survivors
    in the day of distress.

For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you,
    your deeds shall return on your own head.
For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain,
    all the nations round about shall drink;
they shall drink, and stagger,
    and shall be as though they had not been.

But in Mount Zion there shall be those that escape,
    and it shall be holy;
and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.
The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
    and the house of Joseph a flame,
    and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
    and there shall be no survivor to the house of Esau;
                for the Lord has spoken.
Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,
    and those of the Shephe′lah the land of the Philistines;
they shall possess the land of E′phraim and the land of Samar′ia
    and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
The exiles in Halah who are of the people of Israel
    shall possess Phoenicia as far as Zar′ephath;
and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sephar′ad
    shall possess the cities of the Negeb.
Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion
    to rule Mount Esau;
    and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

Haggai 2 (NRSV)

{Haggai 1}

In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 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, 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? 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, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. 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; 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. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. 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.

On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests for a ruling: If one carries consecrated meat in the fold of one’s garment, and with the fold touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priests answered, “No.” Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered, “Yes, it becomes unclean.” Haggai then said, So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, says the Lord; and so with every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. But now, consider what will come to pass from this day on. Before a stone was placed upon a stone in the Lord’s temple, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and mildew and hail; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. Consider from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: Is there any seed left in the barn? Do the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still yield nothing? From this day on I will bless you.

The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month: Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders; and the horses and their riders shall fall, every one by the sword of a comrade. On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts.

Haggai 1 (NRSV)

In 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: Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house. Then the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. You 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.

Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. You 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. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And 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 labors.

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. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, saying, I am with you, says the Lord. And 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, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month.

Join a Missional Community group at Renovation

Part of the lifeblood of Renovation Church are Missional Communities – groups around the greater Lexington area which meet through the week for a fellowship meal, service, and deeper study.

Now that weekly worship services are in full swing, it’s even more important than ever for folks interested in Renovation to join one of the MCs.

Locations and times:

Acts 16

It’s been quite some time since I wrote anything on this blog. We’ve been steadily progressing through Acts in my men’s Bible study group – finishing chapter 15 this past Saturday.

What a true joy it is to have a group of men you can study, discuss, and learn from (and with) in Christ!

There have been many other goings-on in the Myers family, not least of which is the arrival of my son, Zebediah, on 05 May 🙂

I have also been studying English Bible translations (though never a KJVO, I have been, on occasion, a little too adamant in the translations I will use and recommend).

And we have been meeting with a new church plant, Renovation Church, in their Sunday evening Bible study times – there is an awesome group of people there, who are excited about getting their hands dirty in Lexington.