The people are reproved for neglecting to build the temple. They are encouraged to set about the work.

¹ In the second year of king Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came, by the hand of Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Jesus the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying:¹

1. 1:1Haggai the prophet actually wrote down his prophecies, in some form. Other prophets did not write (and may have been illiterate); other persons wrote down their prophecies, which they had merely spoken.(Conte)

² Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: This people claims that the time has not yet arrived for building the house of the Lord.

³ But the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying:

⁴ Is it time for you to dwell in paneled houses, while this house is deserted?

⁵ And now, thus says the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts upon your ways.

⁶ You sowed much and have brought in little. You consumed and have not been satisfied. You drank and have not been inebriated. You covered yourselves and have not been warmed. And whoever gathered wages, has put them in a bag with holes.¹

1. 1:6The expression ‘you drank and have not been inebriated’ is a figure of speech.(Conte)

⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts upon your ways.

⁸ Ascend to the mountain, bring wood and build the house, and it shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, says the Lord.

⁹ You have looked for more, and behold, it became less, and you brought it home, and I blew it away. What is the cause of this, says the Lord of hosts? It is because my house is desolate, yet you have hurried, each one to his own house.

¹⁰ Because of this, the heavens over you have been prohibited from giving dew, and the earth has been prohibited from giving her sprouts.¹

1. 1:10The word ‘germen’ refers to germination or sprouts or shoots, in other words, the first part of the plant to spring forth from the soil. Thus, the sky does not produce dew and the earth does not even begin to produce plants.(Conte)

¹¹ And I called a drought over the land, and over the mountains, and over the wheat, and over the wine, and over the oil, and whatever the soil would bring forth, and over men, and over beasts of burden, and over all the labor of hands.

¹² And Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jesus the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people heeded the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, just as the Lord their God sent him to them. And the people were fearful before the face of the Lord.¹

1. 1:12The name of the high priest, in Latin, is ‘Jesus,’ therefore, the translation as ‘Jesus,’ is justified. Some other translations obscure this connection between this man’s name and our Lord’s name, by translating the name as ‘Joshua.’(Conte)

¹³ And Haggai, a messenger of the Lord among messengers of the Lord, spoke to the people, saying: the Lord says, “I am with you.”¹

1. 1:13The phrases ‘song of songs’ and ‘a man among men’ and ‘blessed are you among women’ are all examples of a way of indicating a superlative. Haggai was ‘a messenger among messengers.’(Conte)

¹⁴ And the Lord stirred the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Jesus the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the remainder of all the people. And they entered and performed work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God.¹

1. 1:14This passage foreshadows the time when the Church will rebuild the Vatican. The Vatican, having been destroyed during World War 3, will not be rebuilt until the second year of the reign of the great monarch. God will stir the spirit of the great monarch and the spirit of the Pope. And so work on the rebuilding of the Vatican in Rome (the center of authority in the Church), and work on the building of a chief Church in Jerusalem, (the center of worship for the Church) will begin when the first part of the tribulation ends.(Conte)