Old Testament · Haggai

Haggai 1

A Call to Rebuild the Temple

(Ezra 5:1–5)

1In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying: 2Thus says the LORD of hosts^a, saying: This people say, The time has not come, the time for the house of the LORD to be built.

3And the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying:

4Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?

5And now thus says the LORD of hosts: Set your heart upon your ways.

6You have sown much, and brought in little; you eat, but there is no being satisfied; you drink, but there is no being filled; you clothe yourselves, but there is no warmth to anyone; and he who earns wages earns wages for a bag with holes.

7Thus says the LORD of hosts: Set your heart upon your ways.

8Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, says the LORD.
9You looked for much, and behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew upon it. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies waste, while you run, each man^b for his own house.
10Therefore over you the heavens have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.
11And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground^c brings forth, and upon man^d, and upon beast, and upon all the labor of the hands.

The People Obey

12And Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, listened to the voice of the LORD their God, and to the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared before the LORD.

13And Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke in the message of the LORD to the people, saying: I am with you, declares the LORD.

14And the LORD stirred up the spirit^e 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 did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, 15in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.