Haggai 1
1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,
[I am], Haggai, a prophet. I received a message from Yahweh on August 29th, during the second year that Darius was the king [of Persia]. I told this message to Shealtiel’s son Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and to Jehozadak’s son Jeshua, the Supreme Priest.
2 Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built.
Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of heaven, told [me] that the people were saying that it was not yet time for them to rebuild Yahweh’s temple.
3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
Then Yahweh gave me this message [to tell to the people of Jerusalem]:
4 Is it time for you, O all of you, to dwell in your covered over houses, and this house lie waste?
“It is not right [RHQ] for you to be living in luxurious houses while my temple is only ruins!
5 Now therefore thus says the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
[I, ] Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of heaven, say this: Think about what is happening to you.
6 All of you have sown much, and bring in little; all of you eat, but all of you have not enough; all of you drink, but all of you are not filled with drink; all of you clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes.
You have planted a lot [of seeds], but you are not getting many [crops] to harvest. You eat [food], but you never get enough. You drink [wine], but you are still thirsty. You wear clothes, but you do not stay warm. You earn money, [but things are very expensive], with the result that [it is as though] [MET] [your money disappears because] you are putting it in purses/pockets that have [big] holes in them.”
7 Thus says the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
[So] this is what Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of heaven, says: “Think about what is happening to you.
8 Go 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.
[Then] go up into the hills, [cut down trees, ] and bring timber [down here], and rebuild my temple. When you do that, I will be pleased, and I will be honored.
9 All of you looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when all of you brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? says the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and all of you run every man unto his own house.
You expected [to harvest] plenty [of crops], but there were few [crops to harvest]. And when you brought the crops home, I caused them to spoil [IDM] quickly. The reason [that happened is that] my temple is a ruins, while each of you are busy building your own [beautiful] houses.
10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
It is because of what you [are doing] that rain does not fall from the sky, and [as a result] there are no crops.
11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.
I have caused a (drought/severe lack of rain) on the hills and on your fields. The result has been that your grain [has withered], and your grapevines [MTY] and olive trees [MTY] and all your [other] crops have dried up. [Because of that, ] you and your cattle [do not have enough food], and the hard work that you have done will be for nothing.”
12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD.
Then Zerubbabel and Jeshua and all the others of God’s people who were still alive obeyed the message that Yahweh our God had said, and they heeded the message that I had given them, because [they knew that] Yahweh our God had sent/appointed me. And the people revered Yahweh.
13 Then spoke Haggai the LORD's messenger in the LORD's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, says the LORD.
Then [I], Haggai, who was Yahweh’s messenger, gave this message from Yahweh to the people: “I, Yahweh, declare that I am with you.”
14 And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, 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,
[So] Yahweh motivated Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the other people to want to rebuild the temple of our God, the Commander of the armies of angels. They gathered together and started to work to rebuild it.
15 In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
[They started work] on September 21st, during the second year that Darius was the king.
