1 IN THE second year of Darius king [of Persia], in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by means of Haggai the prophet [in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity] to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,
2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say, The time is not yet come that the 1 Lord's house should be rebuilt [although Cyrus had ordered it done eighteen years before]. 3 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house [of the Lord] lies in ruins? 5 Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways and set your mind on what has come to you. 6 You have sown much, but you have reaped little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you do not have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages has earned them to put them in a bag with holes in it.
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways (your previous and present conduct) and how you have fared. 8 Go up to the hill country and bring lumber and rebuild [My] house, and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, says the Lord [by accepting it as done for My glory and by displaying My glory in it]. 9 You looked for much [harvest], and behold, it came to little; and even when you brought that home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of My house, which lies waste while you yourselves run each man to his own house [eager to build and adorn it]. 10 Therefore the heavens above you [for your sake] withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought upon the land and the hill country, upon the grain, the fresh wine, the oil, upon what the ground brings forth, upon men and cattle, and upon all the [wearisome] toil of [men's] hands.