Darius

10It was the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year that Darius was king. God gave another message to Haggai the prophet.

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,

NoteDarius was the king of Persia, a huge kingdom far away. God's people lived under him, so they counted years by his reign.

11The LORD of heaven's armies said, "Ask the priests, the men who serve God at the temple, what the law says."

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

NoteThe law was the set of rules God gave his people long ago. Priests learned the rules and answered questions about them.

12"Say to them: A man carries meat given to God in a fold of his coat. The cloth then touches bread, soup, wine, oil, or any food. Does that food become holy?" The priests answered, "No."

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.

NoteHoly means set apart just for God, not for everyday use. Meat given to God was part of an animal brought to the temple. People wore long robes and folded up a bit of cloth to carry things, like a pocket.

13Then Haggai asked, "What if a man has touched a dead body? That makes him unclean. If he touches these foods, do they become unclean?" The priests answered, "Yes, they become unclean."

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.

NoteUnclean did not mean dirty. It meant a person could not go near holy things for a while. Touching a dead body made someone unclean for seven days.

14Then Haggai said, "The LORD says these people and this nation are like that. Everything they make with their hands is unclean. What they bring to me there is unclean too."

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.

NoteWhat they bring to God means the gifts they burned on the altar. An altar is a big stone table for giving gifts to God.

15"Now please think carefully about the time before today. Think back to before one stone was set on another in the LORD's temple."

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:

NoteThe people had started building the temple again after many years. Before that, the ground lay empty and no work was done.

16"In those days a man came to a grain pile hoping for twenty baskets. He found only ten. A man came to the winepress for fifty jars of wine. He found only twenty."

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.

NoteEach basket held about as much grain as a big bucket. A winepress was a stone pit. People stomped on grapes in it to squeeze out the juice.

17"I made your crops dry up and turn moldy. I sent hail on all your hard work. Still you did not turn back to me," says the LORD.

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.

NoteMildew is gray fuzzy mold that spoils grain. Hail is lumps of ice that fall from the sky. Hail can smash a field of plants flat.

18"Think carefully about today and the days ahead. Today is the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Today the bottom stones of the LORD's temple were set in place. Think about it."

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.

NoteThe bottom stones are called the foundation. They go down first and hold up the whole building.

19"Is there any seed left in the barn? The grapevine, fig tree, pomegranate, and olive tree have grown no fruit yet. But from this day on, I will bless you."

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.

NoteGrapes, figs, pomegranates and olives were their main crops. A pomegranate is a round red fruit full of juicy seeds.

1It was the eighth month of the year. Darius the king had ruled for two years. God's message came to Zechariah. Zechariah was a prophet, someone who tells people what God says. He was the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo. This is what God said.

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

NoteDarius was the king of Persia, a huge and powerful country. God's people lived under his rule then. Their year started in spring. So the eighth month came near our November.

2"I was very angry with your fathers long ago."

The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.

NoteFathers here means grandparents and great-grandparents. It means the family members who lived long before.

3"So tell the people this. The LORD who commands all the armies of heaven says: Come back to me. Then I will come back to you."

Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

NoteCome back to me means being sorry for doing wrong. It means living God's way again.

4"Do not be like your fathers. Long ago, prophets told them what God said. God told them to stop doing wrong things. But your fathers would not listen. They paid no attention to me at all."

Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

NoteThose earlier prophets were men like Isaiah and Jeremiah. They spoke God's words many years before Zechariah was born.

5"Your fathers are gone now. Where are they? And the prophets did not live forever either."

Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?

6"But my words and my rules caught up with your fathers in the end. I had given those words to the prophets who served me. Then your fathers were sorry. They said, 'God planned to punish us for the way we lived. And that is just what he did.'"

But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.

NoteLong ago, soldiers from a land called Babylon burned Jerusalem. They took the people far away from home. That is the punishment these words talk about.

7It was the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month. That month is called Shebat. Darius had ruled for two years. God's message came again to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo.

Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

NoteShebat was the name of a month. It came near our January and February.

8At night I saw a man riding a red horse. He was standing among some myrtle trees down in a low valley. Behind him were other horses. They were red, reddish brown, and white.

I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.

NoteMyrtle trees are small trees with shiny leaves and white flowers. Zechariah saw all this like a picture in his mind. God showed it to him at night.

9I asked, "Sir, what are these?" The angel who was talking with me said, "I will show you what they are."

Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.

NoteAn angel is a messenger sent from God.

10The man standing among the myrtle trees said, "God sent these to go all over the earth and watch it."

And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

NoteThese riders were like scouts. They rode all over to see what was happening. Then they came back and told what they saw.

11The riders spoke to the angel of the LORD among the myrtle trees. They said, "We went all over the earth. The whole earth is quiet and calm."

And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.

NoteQuiet and calm means no wars were going on anywhere.

12Then the angel of the LORD said, "LORD who commands all the armies of heaven, how long will you wait? Jerusalem and the towns of Judah need your kindness. You have been angry with them for seventy years now."

Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?

NoteJerusalem was the most important city of God's people. Judah was the land around it. Enemies had knocked the city down about seventy years before this.

13The LORD answered the angel who was talking with me. He spoke kind words that gave comfort.

And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.

14Then the angel said to me, "Say this out loud. The LORD who commands all the armies of heaven says: I care about Jerusalem very much. I care about Zion very much. Zion is another name for the city of Jerusalem."

So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

NoteThe King James says God is "jealous" for Jerusalem. Here that word means loving someone very much. It means holding on and never giving them up.

15"But I am very angry with the nations that live comfortably. I was only a little angry with my people. Those nations made their trouble much worse."

And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.

NoteThe King James calls them "the heathen". That word means people from other countries. At ease means safe and comfortable, with no troubles.

16"So the LORD says: I am coming back to Jerusalem to be kind to it. My house will be built there again. And a measuring line will be stretched out over the city."

Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

NoteMy house means the temple. The temple was the special building in Jerusalem for worshiping God. Enemies had knocked it down. A measuring line was a long cord that builders used, like a tape measure. Stretching it over the city meant the city would be built again.

17"Say this too. The LORD who commands all the armies of heaven says: my towns will be full of good things again. I will comfort Zion again. I will choose Jerusalem again."

Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

1It was the fourth year that Darius was king. A message from the LORD came to a man named Zechariah. It came on the fourth day of the ninth month, called Chislev.

And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

NoteDarius was the king of Persia, a huge and powerful country far away. God's people lived under his rule at this time. Chislev was the name of a month in their calendar. It came near the end of our year, around November and December. Zechariah was a prophet, a man who told people what God said.

2The people of the town of Bethel sent two men to pray to the LORD. Their names were Sharezer and Regem-melech. Other men came with them.

When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,

NoteBethel was a town north of Jerusalem, about a day's walk away. These men traveled that whole way to bring God a question. Sharezer and Regem-melech are simply the two men's names.

3They came to ask the priests and prophets at the LORD's house a question. Priests were men who served God at his house. Prophets were men who told people what God said. The question was this: "Should I cry and go without food in the fifth month, as I have done for many years?"

And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

NoteThe LORD's house means the temple in Jerusalem. It was a special building where people came to worship God. Going without food on purpose is called fasting. People did it to show God they were sad. Long ago, in the fifth month, enemies burned the temple down. Every year after that, people were sad in that same month.

4Then this message came to me from the LORD of armies.

Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,

NoteThe King James Bible says "the LORD of hosts." A host meant a great big army. So the name pictures God as a king with countless soldiers.

5"Ask all the people of the land, and ask the priests too. For seventy years you went without food and cried in the fifth month and the seventh month. Were you really doing that for me?

Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

NoteSeventy years is a very long time, longer than most people lived. Enemies had carried God's people far away to a land called Babylon. They stayed there about seventy years before they came home again. The fifth and seventh months each held a sad day they remembered.

6And when you ate and drank, were you not doing that just for yourselves?

And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

7These are the same words the LORD said long ago. He said them through prophets who lived before you. Back then Jerusalem was full of people and doing well. Towns stood all around it. People lived in the dry land to the south and in the low hills."

Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

NoteThe earlier prophets lived long before Zechariah was born. They told people the very same things, and no one listened. The dry land to the south was called the Negev. Almost no rain falls there. The low hills lay between the tall mountains and the sea.