Haggai 1
The Voice
1 On the first day of the sixth month, during the second year King Darius reigned over the Persian Empire, the prophet named Haggai gave a message from the Eternal One to men named Zerubbabel (Shealtiel’s son and the Jewish governor of Judah) and Joshua (Jehozadak’s son and the high priest). 2 This is what the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies who is more powerful even than the king, had to say.
Eternal One: These people living in Jerusalem say it’s not yet the right time for them to rebuild the temple, the place where the Eternal One dwells.
3 The prophet Haggai gave a message from the Eternal.
Eternal One: 4 Do you think the time is right for you to live in secure and lavishly covered homes when My house still lies in a heap of rubble? 5 Think very carefully about your choices. 6 You have planted a large crop, but your harvest is small. You have food to eat, but it is never enough to satisfy. You have something to drink, but you are never filled. You have clothes to wear, but they are not enough to keep you warm. You earn a salary, but the money runs out quickly, as if there are holes in your pocket.
7 Think very carefully about your choices. 8 Go up to the mountains, and bring down trees to make lumber and build My house. Do this so I may take pleasure in it and be honored by it.
9 You expected to be well rewarded for all your hard work. But as you see, you are getting back almost nothing. As you have brought in profits, I’ve blown them away. Why? I, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will tell you why: My house has remained in ruins while each of you has been chasing after your own concerns. 10 This is why heaven above you has held back the dew[a] and the earth has refused to produce crops. 11 I caused a drought in both the fields and the hills. All the crops you tried to produce have been affected, including your grain, your new wine, and your oil. All have been damaged: humanity, cattle, and everything you tried to produce yourself.
12 Then Zerubbabel (Shealtiel’s son), Joshua (Jehozadak’s son and the high priest), and all those who had returned obeyed the voice of the Eternal, their True God. They took seriously the message brought by the prophet Haggai, believing he had been sent by the Eternal One, whom they worshiped and feared.
Haggai says the fields are not producing food because the temple has not been rebuilt. This understanding correlates God’s divine presence with the fertility of the land. The notion of divine control of natural events is common to the ancient world, but Haggai understands that acts of sacrifice or external displays of intrinsic beliefs cannot renew the land; transformative change brought on by the Lord’s presence can. God wants His people to experience real spiritual changes that are reflected in the ways they interact with each other and the rest of the world.
13-15 On the 24th day of that 6th month, which was King Darius’ 2nd year, Haggai, the messenger of the Eternal One, received this new message from the Eternal and shared it with the people.
Eternal One: I am with you.
And the Eternal One rallied the spirit of Zerubbabel (Shealtiel’s son and Judah’s governor), the spirit of Joshua (Jehozadak’s son and the high priest), and the spirit of all those who had returned to Jerusalem so that they came together and began work on the house of their God, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
Footnotes
- 1:10 Hebrew manuscripts read, “from dew.”
Haggai 1
1599 Geneva Bible
Haggai
1 1 The time of the Prophecy of Haggai. 8 An exhortation to build the Temple again.
1 In the second year of king [a]Darius, in the sixth month, the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord (by the ministry of the Prophet Haggai) unto [b]Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, a prince of Judah, and to Jehoshua the son of Jehozadak the high Priest, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, the time is not yet come, [c]that the Lord’s house should be built.
3 Then came the word of the Lord by the ministry of the Prophet Haggai, saying,
4 Is it time for yourselves to dwell in your [d]ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?
5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your own ways in your hearts.
6 [e]Ye have sown much, and bring in little: ye eat, but ye have not enough: ye drink, but ye are not filled: ye clothe you, but ye be not warm: and he that earneth wages, putteth the wages into a broken bag.
7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your own ways in your hearts.
8 Go [f]up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build this House, and [g]I will be favorable in it, and I will [h]be glorified, saith the Lord.
9 Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little: and when ye brought it home, I did blow [i]upon it. And why, saith the Lord of hosts? Because of mine House that is waste, and ye turn every man unto his own house.
10 Therefore the heaven over you stayed itself from dew, and the earth stayed her fruit.
11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, upon all that the ground bringeth forth: both upon men and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.
12 When Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high Priest, with all the remnant of the people, heard the [j]voice of the Lord their God, and the words of the Prophet Haggai (as the Lord their God had sent him) then the people did fear before the Lord.
13 Then spake Haggai the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord.
14 And the Lord stirred up [k]the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, a prince 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 did the work in the House of the Lord of hosts their God.
Footnotes
- Haggai 1:1 Who was the son of Histaspis and the third king of the Persians, as some think.
- Haggai 1:1 Because the building of the Temple began to cease, by reason that the people were discouraged by their enemies: and if these two notable men had need to be stirred up and admonished of their duties, what shall we think of other governors, whose doings are either against God, or very cold in his cause?
- Haggai 1:2 Not that they condemned the building thereof, but they preferred policy and private profit to religion, being content with small beginnings.
- Haggai 1:4 Showing that they sought not only their necessities, but their very pleasures before God’s honor.
- Haggai 1:6 Consider the plagues of God upon you for preferring your policies to his religion, and because ye seek not him first of all.
- Haggai 1:8 Meaning, that they should leave off their own commodities, and go forward in the building of God’s Temple, and in the setting forth of his religion.
- Haggai 1:8 That is, I will hear your prayers according to my promise, 1 Kings 8:21, 29.
- Haggai 1:8 That is, my glory shall be set forth by you.
- Haggai 1:9 And so bring it to nothing.
- Haggai 1:12 This declareth that God was the author of the doctrine, and that he was but the minister, as Exod. 14:31; Judg. 7:20; Acts 15:28.
- Haggai 1:14 Which declareth that men are inept and dull to serve the Lord, neither can they obey his word or his messengers, before God reform their hearts, and give them new spirits, John 6:44.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
