Haggai 1
1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the LORD’s word came by Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, 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 “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for the LORD’s house to be built.’”
The Lord Almighty says this: the people say, “This isn't the proper time to rebuild the Lord's house.”
3 Then the LORD’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying,
Then the Lord sent a message through the prophet Haggai, saying,
4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?
Is it the proper time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house remains a ruin?
5 Now therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Consider your ways.
So the Lord Almighty says this: Think about what you're doing!
6 You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.’
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 “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Consider your ways.
The Lord Almighty says this: Think about what you're doing!
8 Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” says 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 looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of Hosts, “Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with 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 for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.
That's why the clouds of heaven refused to send rain, and the earth refused to produce crops.
11 I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground produces, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor 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 Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the LORD their God’s voice, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared 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 Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, spoke the LORD’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you,” says 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 The LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on 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 twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
This happened on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of the reign of king Darius.
