Haggai 1
1 In 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 Aggeus the prophet, to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, governor of Juda, and to Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, saying:
In the second year of the reign of king Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the Lord sent a message through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: This people saith: The time is not yet come for building the house of the Lord.
The Lord Almighty says this: the people say, “This isn't the proper time to rebuild the Lord's house.”
3 And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet, saying:
Then the Lord sent a message through the prophet Haggai, saying,
4 Is it time for you to dwell in ceiled houses, and this house lie desolate?
Is it the proper time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house remains a ruin?
5 And now thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts to consider your ways.
So the Lord Almighty says this: Think about what you're doing!
6 You have sowed much, and brought in little: you have eaten, but have not had enough: you have drunk, but have not been filled with drink: you have clothed yourselves, but have not been warmed: and he that hath earned wages, put them into a bag with holes.
You have sown much but harvested little. You eat but you're still hungry. You drink but you're still thirsty. You put on clothes but you're still cold. You work hard to earn money but put it in a bag full of holes.
7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set Your hearts upon your ways:
The Lord Almighty says this: Think about what you're doing!
8 Go up to the mountain, bring timber, and build the house: and it shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, saith the Lord.
Go into the hills and bring wood to build the house. This will please me and honor me, says the Lord.
9 You have looked for more, and behold it became less, and you brought it home, and I blowed it away: why, saith the Lord of hosts? because my house is desolate, and you make haste every man to his own house.
You were hoping for so much, but look, it turned out to be so little. Everything you brought home I blew away. And why was that? Because my house remains a ruin while you are preoccupied with building your own houses, declares the Lord Almighty.
10 Therefore the heavens over you were stayed from giving dew, and the earth was hindered from yielding her fruits:
That's why the clouds of heaven refused to send rain, and the earth refused to produce crops.
11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon all that the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon beasts, and upon all the labour of the hands.
I called for a drought on the land, on the hills, on the grain fields, on the vineyards, and on the olive groves—on whatever the earth produces—and on people and livestock, on everything you do!
12 Then Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and all the remnant of the people hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, and to the words of Aggeus the prophet, as the Lord their God sent him to them: and the people feared before the Lord.
Then Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, together with all the remaining people, paid attention to what the Lord said, and to the words of Haggai the prophet that the Lord their God had sent. The people showed reverence before the Lord.
13 And Aggeus the messenger of the Lord, as one of the messengers of the Lord, spoke, saying to the people: I am with you, saith the Lord.
Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, delivered this message from the Lord telling the people, I am with you! says the Lord.
14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zorobabel the son of Salathiel governor of Juda, and the spirit of Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and the spirit of all the rest of the people: and they went in, and did the work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God.
The Lord inspired Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the remaining people. They came and began work on the house of the Lord Almighty.
15 In the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king, they began.
This happened on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of the reign of king Darius.
