Haggai tells his people to rebuild the Lord’s temple
1A message from the LORD came to Haggai the prophet. Haggai gave it to Zerubbabel and Joshua. Zerubbabel was governor of Judah and the son of Shealtiel. Joshua was high priest and the son of Jozadak. The message came on the first day of the sixth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia. Here is what Haggai said.2Here is what the LORD who rules over all says. ‘The people of Judah say, “It’s not yet time to rebuild the LORD’s temple.” ’3So the message from the LORD came to me. The LORD said,4‘My temple is still destroyed. But you are living in your houses that have beautiful wooden walls.’5The LORD who rules over all says, ‘Think carefully about how you are living.6You have planted many seeds. But the crops you have gathered are small. So you eat. But you never have enough. You drink. But you are never full. You put on your clothes. But you are not warm. You earn your pay. But it will not buy everything you need.’7He continues, ‘Think carefully about how you are living.8Go up into the mountains. Bring logs down. Use them to rebuild the temple, my house. Then I will enjoy it. And you will honour me,’ says the LORD.9‘You expected a lot. But you can see what a small amount it turned out to be. I blew away what you brought home. I’ll tell you why,’ announces the LORD who rules over all. ‘Because my temple is still destroyed. In spite of that, each one of you is busy with your own house.10So because of what you have done, the heavens have held back the dew. And the earth has not produced its crops.11I ordered the rain not to fall on the fields and mountains. Then the ground did not produce any corn. There were not enough grapes to make fresh wine. The trees did not bear enough olives to make oil. People and cattle suffered. All your hard work failed.’12Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel. Joshua the high priest was the son of Jozadak. They obeyed the LORD their God. So did all the LORD’s people who were still left alive. The LORD had given his message to them through me. He had sent me to speak to them. And the people had respect for him.13Haggai was the LORD’s messenger. So Haggai gave the LORD’s message to the people. He told them, ‘The LORD announces, “I am with you.” ’14So the LORD stirred up the spirits of Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and Joshua the high priest. The LORD also stirred up the rest of the people to help them. Then everyone began to work on the temple of the LORD who rules over all. He is their God.
The new temple will be beautiful
15It was the 24th day of the sixth month. In the second year of King Darius,
Haggai 1
English Standard Version
The Command to Rebuild the Temple
1In 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 Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: (1Ch 3:17; 1Ch 3:19; 1Ch 6:15; Ezr 3:2; Ezr 4:24; Ezr 5:1; Hag 1:15; Hag 2:10; Zec 1:1; Zec 1:7)2“Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”3Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, (Ezr 5:1)4“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? (2Sa 7:2; Ne 2:3; Ne 2:17; Ps 132:3; Isa 64:11; Jer 33:10; Jer 33:12)5Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. (Hag 2:15; Hag 2:18)6You have sown much, and harvested little. 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 earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. (Ho 4:10; Mic 6:15; Zec 8:10)7“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. (Hag 1:5)8Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. (Ps 132:13; Hag 2:9)9You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. (Hag 1:4; Hag 1:6; Hag 2:17)10Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. (1Ki 8:35; Jer 5:24; Zec 8:12)11And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.” (2Ki 8:1; Ps 105:16; Ps 128:2; Ho 2:9; Hag 2:17)
The People Obey the Lord
12Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all 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. (Ezr 5:2; Hag 1:1; Hag 2:2)13Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” (Isa 43:5; Hag 2:4)14And the Lord 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 the Lord of hosts, their God, (2Ch 36:22; Ezr 1:1; Ezr 5:8; Hag 1:1; Hag 1:12; Hag 2:2; Hag 2:4)15on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. (Hag 1:1)