1:1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth new moon, in the first day of the new moon, the Word of Yehovah came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Yehudah; and to Yehoshua, the son of Yehozadak, the high priest, saying:
1:2 So speaks Yehovah of Hosts, saying, This people says, The time has not come, the time for the house of Yehovah to be built.1
1:3 And the Word of Yehovah was by Haggai the prophet, saying,
1:4 Is it time for you yourselves to live in your roofed houses, and this house to lie in ruin?
1:5 And now, so says Yehovah of Hosts: Set your heart on your ways!
1:6 You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but are not satisfied; you drink, but not to be filled; you dress, but there is no warmth to one. Yea, one earning wages, earns his wages to put it into a bag with holes2.
1:7 So says Yehovah of Hosts: Set your heart on your ways.
1:8 Go up the mountain and bring wood and build this house. And I will be pleased with it, and I will be glorified, says Yehovah.
1:9 You looked for much, and, look, little! And when you brought it home, then I blew on it. Why, declares Yehovah of Hosts? Because of My house that is ruined, and you, each man, runs to his own house.
1:10 On account of this, the heavens above you have held back the dew, and the earth is held back from her produce.
1:11 And I called for a drought in the land, and on the mountains, and on the grain, and on the new wine, and on the oil, and on that which the ground produces, and on man, and on livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.
1:12 Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Yehoshua, the son of Yehozadak, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of Yehovah their Elohim, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yehovah their Elohim had sent him. And the people feared before Yehovah.
1:13 And Haggai, the messenger of Yehovah, spoke the message of Yehovah to the people, saying, I am with you, says Yehovah.
1:14 And Yehovah stirred up the ruach of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Yehudah, and the ruach of Yehoshua, the son of Yehozadak, the high priest, and the ruach of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of Yehovah of Hosts, their Elohim3,
1:15 in the twenty-fourth day of the sixth new moon, in the second year of Darius the king.
2:1 In the seventh new moon, on the twenty-first of the new moon, the Word of Yehovah was by Haggai the prophet, saying,
2:2 Now speak to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Yehudah, and to Yehoshua, the son of Yehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying,
2:3 Who is left among you who saw this house in her former glory? And how do you see it now? When compared to it, is it not as nothing in your eyes4?
2:4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says Yehovah. And be strong, O Yehoshua, son of Yehozadak, the high priest. And be strong and work, all people of the land, says Yehovah. For I am with you, declares Yehovah of Hosts,
2:5 with the Word by whom I covenanted with you when you came out of Mitsrayim, so My ruach stands among you; do not fear.
2:6 For so says Yehovah of Hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.
2:7 And I will shake all the nations; and the desire of all nations shall come. And I will fill this house with glory, says Yehovah of Hosts.
2:8 The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, says Yehovah of Hosts.5
2:9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former, says Yehovah of Hosts. And in this place I will give shalom, says Yehovah of Hosts.6
2:10 In the twenty-fourth of the ninth new moon, in the second year of Darius, the Word of Yehovah came to Haggai the prophet, saying,
2:11 So says Yehovah of Hosts: Now ask the priests the Torah, saying,
2:12 Look, one bears set apart flesh in the wing of his garment, and touches his wing to the bread, or boiled food, or wine, or oil, or any food, will it become set apart? And the priests answered and said, No.
2:13 And Haggai said, If the unclean of body touches these, is it unclean? And the priests answered and said, It is unclean.
2:14 And Haggai answered and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before Me, declares Yehovah. And so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.7
2:15 And now set your heart on it. From this day and onward: before the placing of a stone on a stone in the sanctuary of Yehovah;
2:16 from then onward, one came to a heap of twenty measures, and there were but ten. One came to the wine vat to draw out fifty from the wine trough, and there were but twenty.
2:17 I struck you with blight, and with mildew, and with hail, in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me, says Yehovah.
2:18 Now set your heart from this day and forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth new moon, from the day that the sanctuary of Yehovah was established. Set your heart:8
2:19 Is the seed still in the barn? Yes, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not brought forth. From this day I will bless them.9
2:20 And a second time the Word of Yehovah was to Haggai, in the twenty-fourth of the new moon, saying,
2:21 Speak to Zerubbabel, the governor of Yehudah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth.
2:22 And I will overturn the throne of the kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. And I will overturn the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders will come down, each one by the sword of his brother.
2:23 In that day, says Yehovah of Hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, says Yehovah, and will make you like a signet;10 for I have chosen you, declares Yehovah of Hosts.