Command to Rebuild the Temple

1In the second year of King Darius,a, b on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggaic the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,d the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:e

2“The LORD of •Hosts says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.”f

3The word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet: 4“Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses,g while this househ lies in ruins? ” 5Now, the LORD of Hosts says this: “Think carefullyi aboutj 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 become drunk.

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.”k

7The LORD of Hosts says this: “Think carefully aboutl your ways. 8Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house. Then 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 ruinedm it. Why? ” This is the declaration of the LORD of Hosts. “Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

10So on your account,n

the skies have withheld the dew

and the land its crops.o

11I have summoned a drought

on the fields and the hills,

on the grain, new wine, olive oil,

and whatever the ground yields,

on man and beast,

and on all that your hands produce.”

The People’s Response

12Then Zerubbabelp son of Shealtiel, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the entire remnant of the peopleq obeyed the voice of 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.r

13Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, delivered the LORD’s message to the people, “I am with you”s — this is the LORD’s declaration.

14The LORD stirred up the spiritt 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 •Yahweh of Hosts, their God, 15on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.