Haggai 1
New Living Translation
A Call to Rebuild the Temple
1 On August 29[a] of the second year of King Darius’s reign, the Lord gave a message through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Jeshua[b] son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
2 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’”
3 Then the Lord sent this message through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? 5 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! 6 You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!
7 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! 8 Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. 9 You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. 10 It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. 11 I have called for a drought on your fields and hills—a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.”
Obedience to God’s Call
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of God’s people began to obey the message from the Lord their God. When they heard the words of the prophet Haggai, whom the Lord their God had sent, the people feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave the people this message from the Lord: “I am with you, says the Lord!”
14 So the Lord sparked the enthusiasm of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the enthusiasm of Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God’s people. They began to work on the house of their God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, 15 on September 21[c] of the second year of King Darius’s reign.
Footnotes
- 1:1a Hebrew On the first day of the sixth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. A number of dates in Haggai can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Persian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This event occurred on August 29, 520 B.c.
- 1:1b Hebrew Joshua, a variant spelling of Jeshua; also in 1:12, 14.
- 1:15 Hebrew on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This event occurred on September 21, 520 B.c.; also see note on 1:1a.
Haggai 1
English Standard Version
The Command to Rebuild the Temple
1 (A)In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to (B)Zerubbabel the son of (C)Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to (D)Joshua the son of (E)Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came (F)by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 (G)“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while (H)this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: (I)Consider your ways. 6 (J)You have sown much, and harvested little. (K)You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who (L)earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: (M)Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that (N)I may take pleasure in it and that (O)I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 (P)You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, (Q)I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house (R)that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore (S)the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And (T)I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on (U)the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and (V)on all their labors.”
The People Obey the Lord
12 (W)Then (X)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and (Y)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all (Z)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 feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, (AA)“I am with you, declares the Lord.” 14 And (AB)the Lord stirred up the spirit of (AC)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of (AD)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all (AE)the remnant of the people. And they came and (AF)worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 (AG)on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
