Chapter 1
1 In the second year of Darius the king , in the sixth month , in the first day of the month , Yahweh ’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 ,
2 " This is what Yahweh of Armies says : These people say, ‘ The time hasn’t yet come , the time for Yahweh ’s house to be built .’"
3 Then Yahweh ’s word came by Haggai the prophet , saying ,
4 " Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses , while this house lies waste ?
5 Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says : ‘ Consider your ways .
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 .’
7 " This is what Yahweh of Armies says : ‘ Consider your ways .
8 Go up to the mountain , bring wood , and build the house . I will take pleasure in it , and I will be glorified ," says Yahweh .
9 " You looked for much , and , behold , ", means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection. it came to little ; and when you brought it home , I blew it away . Why ?" says Yahweh of Armies , " Because of my house that lies waste , while each of you is busy with his own house .
10 Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew , and the earth withholds its fruit .
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 ."
12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jehozadak , the high priest , with all the remnant of the people , obeyed Yahweh their God ’s " (Elohim). voice , and the words of Haggai the prophet , as Yahweh their God had sent him ; and the people feared Yahweh .
13 Then Haggai , Yahweh ’s messenger , spoke Yahweh ’s message to the people , saying, " I am with you ," says Yahweh .
14 Yahweh 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 Yahweh of Armies , their God ,
15 in the twenty-fourth day of the month , in the sixth month , in the second year of Darius the king .