Haggai 1
About HaggaiWritten by AI
Haggai is a short book with a clear date. In 520 BC, the second year of the Persian king Darius, Haggai spoke to the Jews who had come home from exile in Babylon. They had laid the temple's foundation years before, then stopped. Meanwhile they built their own homes and wondered why their harvests kept falling short.
Haggai's four messages, all within a few months, call the people to put first things first and rebuild God's house. Unlike many prophets, he sees results: the governor Zerubbabel, the high priest Joshua, and the people obey and go to work.
Watch for the encouragement God gives to those who thought the new temple looked small. He promises to be with them and says, “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former.” Christians have often connected that promise to Jesus, who later taught in that temple.
Before you read Haggai 1Written by AI
The people say it is not yet time to rebuild the LORD's house, while they live in paneled houses. God tells them to consider their ways: they plant much and harvest little, because His house lies in ruins. Notice the response. The leaders and people obey, God says He is with them, and within weeks the work begins.
A Call to Rebuild the Temple
In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating that this is what the LORD of Hosts says:
“These people say, ‘The time has not yet come
to rebuild the house of the LORD.’”
Then the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying:
“Is it a time for you yourselves
to live in your paneled houses,
while this house lies in ruins?”
Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says:
“Consider carefully your ways.
You have planted much
but harvested little.
You eat but never have enough.
You drink but never have your fill.
You put on clothes but never get warm.
You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”
This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
“Consider carefully your ways.
Go up into the hills,
bring down lumber, and build the house,
so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,
says the LORD.
You expected much,
but behold, it amounted to little.
And what you brought home, I blew away.
Why? declares the LORD of Hosts.
Because My house still lies in ruins,
while each of you is busy
with his own house.
Therefore, on account of you
the heavens have withheld their dew
and the earth has withheld its crops.
I have summoned a drought
on the fields and on the mountains,
on the grain, new wine, and oil,
and on whatever the ground yields,
on man and beast,
and on all the labor of your hands.”
The People Obey
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as all the remnant of the people, 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.
Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, delivered the message of the LORD to the people:
“I am with you,”
declares the LORD.
So the LORD stirred the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and began the work on the house of the LORD of Hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.