^9 (A)You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ “But ^(A)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and ^(B)overtake you. ¹⁶ Cursed shall you be ^(C)in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

¹⁴ Then Haggai answered and said, ^(A)“So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. ¹⁵ Now then, ^(B)consider from this day onward.^[a] Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, ¹⁶ how did you fare? ^(C)When^[b] one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. ^17 (D)I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, ^(E)yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord.

^2 (A)If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send ^(B)the curse upon you and I will curse ^(C)your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.

^6 (A)You have sown much, and harvested little. ^(B)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 ^(C)earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(D)Consider your ways. ⁸ Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that ^(E)I may take pleasure in it and that ^(F)I may be glorified, says the Lord. ^9 (G)You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, ^(H)I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house ^(I)that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore ^(J)the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹ And ^(K)I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on ^(L)the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and ^(M)on all their labors.”

^20 (A)Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and ^(B)wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’”

^12 (A)Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They ^(B)turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become ^(C)devoted for destruction.^[a] I will be with you no more, unless you destroy ^(D)the devoted things from among you. ¹³ Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ^(E)‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”