Haggai 1

The Command to Build God’s House

1 In *Ezra 4:24; Hag. 2:10; Zech. 1:1, 7the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by *Ezra 5:1; 6:14Haggai the prophet to *1 Chr. 3:19; Ezra 2:2; Neh. 7:7; Zech. 4:6; Matt. 1:12, 13Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to *Ezra 5:2, 3; Zech. 6:11Joshua the son of *1 Chr. 6:15Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2 "Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, "The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built." ’ "

3 Then the word of the Lord*Ezra 5:1came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 "Isit*2 Sam. 7:2time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple tolie in ruins?" 5 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: *Lam. 3:40"Consider your ways!

6 "You have *Deut. 28:38–40; Hos. 8:7; Hag. 1:9, 10; 2:16, 17sown much, and bring in little;

You eat, but do not have enough;

You drink, but you are not filled with drink;

You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;

And *Zech. 8:10he who earns wages,

Earns wages toput into a bag with holes."

7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the *Ezra 3:7mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified," says the Lord. 9 *Hag. 2:16"You looked for much, but indeed itcameto little; and when you brought it home, *Hag. 2:17I blew it away. Why?" says the Lord of hosts. "Because of My house that isin ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. 10 Therefore *Lev. 26:19; Deut. 28:23; 1 Kin. 8:35; Joel 1:18–20the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 11 For I *1 Kin. 17:1; 2 Kin. 8:1called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on *Hag. 2:17all the labor of your hands."

The People’s Obedience

12 *Ezra 5:2Then 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 presence of the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people, saying, *(Matt. 28:20; Rom. 8:31)"I am with you, says the Lord." 14 So *2 Chr. 36:22; Ezra 1:1the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, *Hag. 2:21governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; *Ezra 5:2, 8; Neh. 4:6and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.