Haggai and Zechariah stir the people to build
Haggai 1–2; Zechariah 1–8; Ezra 5
The prophets Haggai and Zechariah challenged the people for living in paneled houses while God's house lay in ruins, and the work began again.
Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies.”
Zechariah 4:6 (World English Bible)
Haggai promised that the glory of this plainer temple would one day be greater than Solomon's. Zechariah saw night visions of God's care for Jerusalem and told Zerubbabel that the work would be finished not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit.
Zechariah also foretold a king coming to Jerusalem riding on a donkey (9:9), which the Gospels quote at Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.
Places
JerusalemBabylonEuphratesBeyond the RiverBethel
Ancient witnesses outside the Bible
Historical sources, not Scripture.
- 1 Esdras 6:1–6 — as 1 Esdras retells it
Dating notes
The second year of Darius (Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 1:1), 520 BC.