Command to Rebuild the Temple

1In the second year of King Darius,a a on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophetb Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,c the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:d

2“The Lord of Armies says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”a

3The word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4“Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses,a while this houseA lies in ruins? ” 5Now, the Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefullya aboutA your ways:

6You have planted much

but harvested little.

You eat

but never have enough to be satisfied.

You drink

but never have enough to be happy.

You put on clothes

but never have enough to get warm.

The wage earner puts his wages

into a bag with a hole in it.”a

7The Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways. 8Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house; and I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9“You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruinedA it. Why? ” This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. “Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

10So on your account,A

the skies have withheld the dew

and the land its crops.a

11I have summoned a drought

on the fields and the hills,

on the grain, new wine, fresh oil,

and whatever the ground yields,

on people and animals,

and on all that your hands produce.”

The People’s Response

12Then Zerubbabela son of Shealtiel, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the entire remnant of the peopleb obeyed the Lord their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. So the people feared the Lord.c

13Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, delivered the Lord’s message to the people: “I am with youa — this is the Lord’s declaration.”

14The Lord roused the spirita of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the spirit of the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. They began work on the house of the Lord of Armies, their God, 15on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.