The Prophet Haggai

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

⮜ Back | Contents | Next ⮞

- Chapter 1 -

(Ezra 5:1–5)

Haggai, who was a prophet, received a message from Yahweh. Yahweh spoke this message to him in the second year after Darius had become king of Persia. This happened on the first day of the sixth month of that year. Haggai told this message to Shealtiel’s son Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and to Jehozadak’s son Joshua, the high priest.

Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, told him that the people were saying that it was not yet time for them to rebuild Yahweh’s temple.

Then Yahweh gave him this message to tell to the people of Jerusalem:

“It is not right for you to be living in luxurious houses while my temple is only ruins!

I, Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, say this: ’Think about what you are doing.

You have planted a lot of seeds, but you are not getting many crops to harvest. You eat food, but you never get enough. You drink wine, but you are still thirsty. You wear clothes, but you do not stay warm. You earn money, but it is spent as quickly as you make it.’

So this is what Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, says: ’Think about what you are doing.

Then go up into the hills, cut down trees, bring timber down here, and rebuild my temple. When you do that, I will be pleased and I will appear there with my glory.

You expected to harvest plenty of crops, but there were few crops to harvest because I removed them. I did this because my temple is a ruin, while each of you are busy building your own beautiful house.

It is because of what you are doing that rain does not fall from the sky, and as a result there are no crops.

I have caused a drought over both fields and mountains and all your other crops, whether grain or wine or oil, have dried up. Because of that, you and your cattle do not have enough food, and the hard work that you have done will be for nothing.’”

The People Obey

Then Zerubbabel and Jeshua and all the others of God’s people who were still alive obeyed the message that Yahweh their God had spoken, and they listened to the message that Haggai had given them, because they knew that Yahweh their God had sent him. Then they honored Yahweh, for he was present with them.

Then Haggai, who was Yahweh’s messenger, gave this message from Yahweh to the people: “I, Yahweh, declare that I am with you.”

So Yahweh motivated Zerubbabel and Joshua and the other people to want to rebuild the temple of their God, Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies. So they gathered together and started to work to rebuild it.

They started that work on the twenty-fourth day of the same month in which Yahweh had spoken to Haggai.

(Ezra 5:1–5)

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the LORD’s(a) word came by Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

“This is what the LORD of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for the LORD’s house to be built.’”

Then the LORD’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?

Now therefore this is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘Consider your ways.

You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.’

“This is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘Consider your ways.

Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” says the LORD.

“You looked for much, and, behold,(b) it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of Armies, “Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.

Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.

I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground produces, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands.”

The People Obey

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the LORD their God’s(c) voice, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared the LORD.

Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, spoke the LORD’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you,” says the LORD.

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 Armies, their God,

in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Footnotes

(a)1:1 When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name.

(b)1:9 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.