Haggai 1-2

Common English Bible

The challenge to rebuild

1 The Lord’s word came through Haggai the prophet in the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month on the first day of the month, to Judah’s governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and to the high priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son:

²This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says:
These people say, “The time hasn’t come,
the time to rebuild the Lord’s house.”

³Then the Lord’s word came through Haggai the prophet:

⁴        Is it time for you to dwell in your own paneled houses
            while this house lies in ruins?
⁵So now, this is what the Lord of heavenly forces says:
    Take your ways to heart.
⁶    You have sown much, but it has brought little.
    You eat, but there’s not enough to satisfy.
    You drink, but not enough to get drunk.
    There is clothing, but not enough to keep warm.
    Anyone earning wages puts those wages into a bag with holes.

⁷This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says:
    Take your ways to heart.
⁸    Go up to the highlands and bring back wood.
    Rebuild the temple so that I may enjoy it
        and that I may be honored, says the Lord.
⁹You expect a surplus, but look how it shrinks.
You bring it home, and I blow it away, says the Lord of heavenly forces,
        because my house lies in ruins.
But all of you hurry to your own houses.
¹⁰Therefore, the skies above you have withheld the dew,
        and the earth has withheld its produce because of you.
¹¹I have called for drought on the earth,
        on the mountains, on the grain,
        on the wine, on the olive oil,
        on that which comes forth from the fertile ground,
        on humanity, on beasts,
        and upon everything that handles produce.

¹²Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and the high priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, along with all who remained among the people, listened to the voice of the Lord God and to the words of Haggai the prophet because the Lord their God sent him. Then the people feared the Lord.

¹³Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave the Lord’s message to the people:

I am with you, says the Lord.

¹⁴The Lord moved the spirit of Judah’s governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and the spirit of the high priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, and the spirit of all the rest of the people. Then they came and did work on the house of the Lord of heavenly forces, their God, ¹⁵on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.

Encouraging the people

2 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Lord’s word came through Haggai the prophet: ²Say to Judah’s governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and to the chief priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, and to the rest of the people:

³Who among you is left who saw this house in its former glory?
How does it look to you now?
    Doesn’t it appear as nothing to you?
⁴So now, be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord.
Be strong, High Priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son,
        and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord.
Work, for I am with you, says the Lord of heavenly forces.
⁵As with our agreement when you came out of Egypt,
        my spirit stands in your midst.
Don’t fear.
⁶This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says:
In just a little while, I will make the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land quake.
⁷I will make all the nations quake.
        The wealth of all the nations will come.
I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of heavenly forces.
⁸The silver and the gold belong to me, says the Lord of heavenly forces.
⁹This house will be more glorious than its predecessor, says the Lord of heavenly forces.
        I will provide prosperity in this place, says the Lord of heavenly forces.

Cleansing the work

¹⁰On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius, the Lord’s word came to Haggai the prophet:

¹¹This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says:
Go ahead and ask the priests for a ruling:
¹²        “If someone lifts holy meat into the hem of one’s garment and that hem touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any kind of food, will it be made holy?”
And the priests responded, “No.”
¹³Haggai said,
        “If an unclean person touches any of these things, will it become unclean?”
        And the priests responded, “It will be unclean.”
¹⁴Then Haggai responded:
        Thus has this people and this nation become to me, says the Lord,
            and everything that they do with their hands.
        Whatever they offer is unclean.
¹⁵So now, take it to heart from this day forward.
        Before stone was placed on stone in the Lord’s temple,
¹⁶    when one came to the granary for twenty measures,
        there were only ten;
    and when one came to the wine vat for fifty measures,
        there were only twenty.
¹⁷    I struck you—everything you do with your hands—
            with blight and mildew and hail;
            but you didn’t return to me.^[a]
¹⁸So take it to heart from this day forward,
        from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month.
        Take it to heart from the day when the foundation for the Lord’s temple was laid.
¹⁹Is the seed yet in the granary—
        or the vine, the fig tree, or the pomegranate—
            or has the olive tree not borne fruit?
From this day forward, I will bless you.

Royal expectations

²⁰And the Lord’s word came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth of the month, saying:

²¹Speak to Judah’s governor Zerubbabel:
I am about to make the heavens and the earth quake.
²²        I will overthrow the thrones of the kingdoms;
            I will destroy the strength of the nations.^[b]
        I will overthrow chariot and rider;
            horses and riders will fall.
        Each one will fall by the sword of his companion.
²³On that day, says the Lord of heavenly forces:
I will take you, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, my servant, says the Lord;
        I will make you like a signet ring
            because I have chosen you, says the Lord of heavenly forces.