Haggai 1
1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,
In the second year of the reign of king Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the Lord sent a message through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
2 Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, This people say, It is not the time [for us] to come, the time for Jehovah’s house to be built.
The Lord Almighty says this: the people say, “This isn't the proper time to rebuild the Lord's house.”
3 Then came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet, saying,
Then the Lord sent a message through the prophet Haggai, saying,
4 Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste?
Is it the proper time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house remains a ruin?
5 Now therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways.
So the Lord Almighty says this: Think about what you're doing!
6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages [to put it] into a bag with holes.
You have sown much but harvested little. You eat but you're still hungry. You drink but you're still thirsty. You put on clothes but you're still cold. You work hard to earn money but put it in a bag full of holes.
7 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways.
The Lord Almighty says this: Think about what you're doing!
8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah.
Go into the hills and bring wood to build the house. This will please me and honor me, says the Lord.
9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house.
You were hoping for so much, but look, it turned out to be so little. Everything you brought home I blew away. And why was that? Because my house remains a ruin while you are preoccupied with building your own houses, declares the Lord Almighty.
10 Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholdeth its fruit.
That's why the clouds of heaven refused to send rain, and the earth refused to produce crops.
11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.
I called for a drought on the land, on the hills, on the grain fields, on the vineyards, and on the olive groves—on whatever the earth produces—and on people and livestock, on everything you do!
12 Then 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 Jehovah their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Jehovah their God had sent him; and the people did fear before Jehovah.
Then Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, together with all the remaining people, paid attention to what the Lord said, and to the words of Haggai the prophet that the Lord their God had sent. The people showed reverence before the Lord.
13 Then spake Haggai Jehovah’s messenger in Jehovah’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith Jehovah.
Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, delivered this message from the Lord telling the people, I am with you! says the Lord.
14 And Jehovah 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 did work on the house of Jehovah of hosts, their God,
The Lord inspired Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the remaining people. They came and began work on the house of the Lord Almighty.
15 in the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth [month], in the second year of Darius the king.
This happened on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of the reign of king Darius.
