Historical

1 The Devar Hashem which came unto Tzephanyah ben Cushi, ben Gedalyah, ben Amaryah, ben Chizkiyah, in the yamim of Yoshiyahu (Josiah) ben Amon, Melech Yehudah.

² I will utterly sweep away all things from off the adamah, saith Hashem.

³ I will sweep away Adam (humankind) and Behemah (beast, animal, cattle); I will sweep away Oph HaShomayim (Birds of the Air) and the Dagim of HaYam (Fish of the Sea), and the michsholim (stumbling blocks, what causes to fall into sin) with the resha’im; and I will cut off adam from off the adamah, saith Hashem.

⁴ I will also stretch out Mine hand against Yehudah, and against all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim; and I will cut off from this place the she’ar HaBa’al (remnant of Baal), and the shem (name) of the Kemarim (the idolatrous priests; see 2Kgs 23:5) with the [idolatrous] kohanim;

⁵ And those that worship the Tz’va HaShomayim (Army of Heaven, star g-ds) upon the rooftops; and those that worship and that swear [oaths] by Hashem, but also swear by Milcom (i.e., Their King [Baal]);

⁶ And those that turned back from following Hashem; and those that have not sought Hashem, nor inquired of Him.

⁷ Hold thy peace (keep silent) at the presence of Adonai Hashem: for the Yom Hashem is at hand; for Hashem hath prepared a zevach (sacrifice), Hashem hath consecrated His guests [i.e., made HaKeru’im (the Invited ones) of Him His Mequddashim, Consecrated ones, i.e., the nations set apart to consume His apostate people, see Yeshayah 13:3].

⁸ And it shall come to pass in the Yom Zevach Hashem, that I will punish the sarim (princes), and Bnei HaMelech, and all such as are clothed with malbush nochri (foreign apparel).

⁹ In the same Yom also will I visit to punish all those that leap over the threshold [See 1 Sm 5:5], which fill their masters’ batim (houses) with chamas (violence) and mirmah (deceit).

¹⁰ And it shall come to pass in that Yom, saith Hashem, that there shall be the noise of a cry from Sha’ar HaDagim, and a wail from the Second Quarter of the city, and a loud crash from the hills.

¹¹ Howl, ye inhabitants of HaMakhtesh [a locality in Yerushalayim], for all the merchants are cut down; all they that weigh out kesef are cut off.

¹² And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Yerushalayim with nerot (lamps), and visit to punish the [proud] men that are [complacently] settled on their lees [wine dregs]; that say in their lev, Hashem will not do tov, neither will Hashem do rah.

¹³ Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their batim a desolation; they shall also build batim, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant kramim (vineyards), but not drink the yayin thereof.

¹⁴ The Yom Hashem HaGadol is near, near and hastening quickly; the sound of the Yom Hashem is mar (bitter); there the gibbor (mighty man, warrior) cries aloud.

¹⁵ That Yom is a Yom Evrah (day of wrath), a Yom Tzarah and Metzukah (a day of trouble and distress, pressure), a Yom of Sho’ah (catastrophe) and Meshoah (desolation), a Yom of Choshech and Afelah (gloom), a Yom of Anan and Arafel (thick darkness),

¹⁶ A Yom of the Shofar and Teruah (battle cry) against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements.

¹⁷ And I will bring distress upon adam, that they shall walk like ivrim, because they have sinned against Hashem; and their dahm shall be poured out like dust, and their bowels like dung.

¹⁸ Neither their kesef nor their zahav shall be able to save them in the Yom Evrat Hashem (Day of Hashem’s Wrath); but kol ha’aretz (the whole earth) shall be devoured by the eish of Hashem’s kina (jealousy, zeal, passion); for He shall make a complete end, a terrible end, of kol yoshvei ha’aretz (all them that dwell on the earth).

2 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O shameful nation;

² Before the decree brings forth, before the day passes like the chaff, before the charon af Hashem comes upon you, before the Yom Af Hashem (Day of Hashem’s Anger) comes upon you;

³ Seek ye Hashem, all ye anvei ha’aretz (humble of the land), which have wrought His mishpat; seek tzedek, seek anavah (meekness, humility); it may be ye shall be hid in the Yom Af Hashem.

⁴ For Azah (Gaza) shall be abandoned, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod in broad day, and Ekron shall be uprooted.

⁵ Hoy (Woe) unto the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Keretim (Cretans)! The Devar Hashem is against you, O Kena’an, eretz of the Pelishtim (Philistines). I will even destroy thee, that there no inhabitant remains.

⁶ And the seacoast shall be dwellings and meadows for ro’im (shepherds), and pens for tzon.

⁷ And the coast shall be for the she’erit Bais Yehudah; they shall feed thereupon; in the batim (houses) of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the erev; for Hashem Eloheichem shall visit them, and restore their fortunes.

⁸ I have heard the reproach of Moav, and the revilings of the Bnei Ammon, whereby they have reproached My nation, and magnified themselves against their territory.

⁹ Therefore as I live, saith Hashem Tzva’os, Elohei Yisroel, Surely Moav shall be as Sodom, and the Bnei Ammon as Amora (Gomorrah), a place of weeds and salt pits, and desolation ad olam; the She’erit Ami shall plunder them, and the remnant of My nation shall possess them.

¹⁰ This shall they have in return for their ga’on (pride), because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the Am Hashem Tzva’os.

¹¹ Hashem will be terrible unto them; for He will reduce to nothing all the elohei ha’aretz (g-ds of the land); and men shall worship Hashem, everyone from his place, even all the coasts and islands of the Goyim.

¹² Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by My cherev.

¹³ And Hashem will stretch out His hand against the tzafon (north), and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like a midbar.

¹⁴ And herds shall lie down in the midst of it, all the beasts of the Goyim; both the desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns; their voice shall hoot in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; the beams of cedar will be exposed.

¹⁵ This is HaIr HaAlizah (the rejoicing city) that dwelt carelessly, that said in her lev, I am, and there is none beside me; how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and shake his fist.

3 Hoy (woe) to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city [i.e.,Jerusalem]!

² She obeyed not the voice; she received not musar (correction); her bitachon (trust) was not in Hashem; she drew not near to her G-d.

³ Her sarim (princes) within her are roaring arayot; her shofetim are evening wolves; they leave nothing for the boker (morning).

⁴ Her nevi’im are arrogant, anshei bogedot (treacherous persons); her kohanim have profaned the kodesh, they have done violence to the torah [T.N. which they were ordained to faithfully observe and teach].

⁵ Hashem Tzaddik is in the midst thereof; He will do no injustice; boker by boker doth Hashem dispense mishpat; He faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no boshet (shame).

⁶ I have cut off the Goyim; their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no ish (man), that there is no inhabitant.

⁷ I said, Surely thou wilt fear Me, thou wilt accept musar (correction, instruction); so that her dwelling place should not be cut off, despite everything for which I punished her; but they rose early [i.e., eagerly], and corrupted all their doings.

⁸ Therefore wait ye upon Me, saith Hashem, until the Yom that I rise up for a witness; for My determination is to gather the Goyim, that I may assemble the mamlachot, to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My charon af; for kol ha’aretz (all the earth) shall be devoured with the eish of My kina (jealousy).

⁹ For then will I restore to the people a safah berurah (pure language, purified lip), that they may all call upon the Shem Hashem, to serve Him with shekhem echad (one shoulder, one accord).

¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My suppliants, even the daughter of My dispersed, shall bring Mine minchah.

¹¹ In that Yom shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against Me; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy ga’avah (pride), and thou shalt no more be haughty because of My Har Hakodesh.

¹² I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall take refuge in the Shem Hashem.

¹³ The she’erit Yisroel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a leshon tarmit (tongue of deceitfulness) be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

¹⁴ Sing, O Bat Tziyon; shout, O Yisroel; be glad and rejoice with all the lev, O Bat Yerushalayim.

¹⁵ Hashem hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy. The Melech Yisroel, even Hashem, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more.

¹⁶ In that Yom it shall be said to Yerushalayim, Fear thou not; and to Tziyon, Let not thine hands hang limp.

¹⁷ Hashem thy G-d in the midst of thee is gibbor; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with simchah; He will quiet [you] in His ahavah (love), He will joy over thee with singing.

¹⁸ They that mourn I will gather for the mo’ed (time of the feast), who are of thee [O Tziyon], to whom the cherpah (reproach of the Golus) presses upon them [see 2C 7:10].

¹⁹ Hinei, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee; and I will save her that is lame, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land of their boshet (shame).

²⁰ At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you; for I will make you a shem and a tehillah among Kol Amei Ha’aretz (all the peoples of the earth), when I turn back your captivity and restore your fortunes before your eyes, saith Hashem.

1 In the second year of Daryavesh HaMelech, in the sixth month, in yom echad of the month, came the Devar Hashem by Chaggai HaNavi unto Zerubavel ben Sh’altiel, Governor of Yehudah, and to Yehoshua ben Yehotzadak [i.e., the namesake of Moshiach, see Zech 6:11-12], the Kohen HaGadol, saying,

² Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os: This people say, The time is not come, the time that Beis Hashem should be built.

³ Then came the Devar Hashem by Chaggai HaNavi, saying,

⁴ Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your paneled batim, and this Beis [HaMikdash] lie in ruins?

⁵ Now therefore thus saith Hashem Tzva’os; Consider your ways.

⁶ Ye have sown harbeh (much), and bring in me’at (little); ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe yourselves, but there is no warming; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put them into a purse of holes.

⁷ Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os: Consider your ways.

⁸ Go up to the har (mountain), and bring etz, and build HaBeis [HaMikdash]; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Hashem.

⁹ Ye looked for harbeh (much), and, hinei, it came to me’at (little); and when ye brought it home, I blew it away. Why? saith Hashem Tva’os. Because of Mine Beis [HaMikdash] that is in ruins, and ye run every man for his own bais.

¹⁰ Therefore the Shomayim over you is stayed from dew, and Ha’Aretz is stayed from her fruit.

¹¹ And I called for a drought upon ha’aretz, and upon the harim (mountains), and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which ha’adamah bringeth forth, and upon ha’adam, and upon livestock, and upon all the labor of the hands.

¹² Then Zerubavel ben Sh’altiel, and Yehoshua ben Yehotzadak, the Kohen HaGadol, with kol she’erit HaAm, obeyed the voice of Hashem Eloheichem, and the words of Chaggi HaNavi, as Hashem Eloheichem had sent him, and the people did fear before Hashem.

¹³ Then spoke Chaggai malach Hashem with the message of Hashem unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith Hashem.

¹⁴ And Hashem stirred up the ruach of Zerubavel ben Sh’altiel, Governor of Yehudah, and the ruach of Yehoshua ben Yehotzadak, the Kohen HaGadol, and the ruach of kol she’erit HaAm; and they came and did work in the Beis [HaMikdash] of Hashem Tzva’os, Eloheichem,

¹⁵ In the four and twentieth yom of the sixth month, in the second year of Daryavesh HaMelech [520 B.C.E.].

2 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth yom of the month, came the Devar Hashem by Chaggai HaNavi, saying,

² Speak now to Zerubavel ben Sh’altiel, Governor of Yehudah, and to Yehoshua ben Yehotzadak, the Kohen HaGadol, and to the she’erit HaAm, saying,

³ Who is left among you that saw this Beis [Hamikdash] in her kavod harishon? And how do ye see it now? In comparison to it, is it not in your eyes as nothing?

⁴ Yet now chazak (be strong), O Zerubavel, saith Hashem; and chazak (be strong), O Yehoshua ben Yehotzadak, Kohen HaGadol; and chazak (be strong), kol Am Ha’Aretz, saith Hashem, and work; for I am with you, saith Hashem Tzva’os.

⁵ According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Mitzrayim, so My Ruach [Hakodesh] remaineth among you; fear ye not.

⁶ For thus saith Hashem Tzva’os: Once more, it is a little while, and I will shake HaShomayim and Ha’Aretz and the yam (sea) and the kharavah (arid land);

⁷ And I will shake kol Goyim, and the Chemdat kol HaGoyim [desired of all nations; i.e., Moshiach, Shmuel Alef 9:20, Malachi 3:1] shall come: and I will fill this Beis [HaMikdash] with kavod, saith Hashem Tzva’os.

⁸ The kesef is Mine, and the zahav is Mine, saith Hashem Tzva’os.

⁹ The kavod of this latter Beis shall be greater than of the former, saith Hashem Tzva’os: and in this place will I give shalom, saith Hashem Tzva’os.

¹⁰ In the four and twentieth yom of the ninth month, in the second year of Daryavesh, came the Devar Hashem by Chaggai HaNavi, saying,

¹¹ Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os; Ask now the kohanim concerning the torah, saying,

¹² If one carry basar kodesh in the fold of his garment, and with his fold do touch lechem, or that which is boiled, or yayin, or shemen (olive oil), or any food, shall it thus be made kodesh? And the kohanim answered and said, Lo (No).

¹³ Then said Chaggai, If one that is tamei (unclean) by a nefesh (dead body) touch any of these, shall it be tamei? And the kohanim answered and said, It shall be tamei.

¹⁴ Then answered Chaggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before Me, saith Hashem; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is tamei (unclean).

¹⁵ And now, I pray you, consider from this yom and onward, from before an even (stone) was laid upon an even (stone) in the Heikhal Hashem;

¹⁶ Since those yamim were, when one came to a heap of grain of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat for to draw out fifty vessels, there were but twenty.

¹⁷ I struck you with blight and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands; yet ye made not teshuvah to Me, saith Hashem.

¹⁸ Consider now from this yom and onward, from the four and twentieth yom of the ninth month, even from the yom that the Yesod (Foundation) of the Heikhal Hashem was laid, consider it.

¹⁹ Is the seed still in the granary? As yet the gefen, and the [etz] te’enah, and the pomegranate, and etz hazayit (olive tree), hath not brought forth. From this yom forth will I bless you.

²⁰ And again the Devar Hashem came unto Chaggai in the four and twentieth yom of the month, saying,

²¹ Speak to Zerubavel, Governor of Yehudah, saying, I will shake HaShomayim and Ha’Aretz;

²² And I will overthrow the throne of mamlachot (kingdoms), and I will destroy the chozek (strength) of the mamlachot HaGoyim; and I will overthrow the merkavot, and those that ride in them; and the susim and their riders shall fall, every one by the cherev (sword) of achiv.

²³ In that yom, saith Hashem Tzva’os, will I take thee, O Zerubavel ben Sh’altiel, Avdi (My Servant; T.N. see Yeshayah 52:13 for this Avdi‖My Servant‖as a reference which is ultimately related to Moshiach), saith Hashem, and will make thee as a chotam (signet ring); for I have chosen thee, saith Hashem Tzva’os.