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Haggai Begins Temple Building

¹ In the ^(C1)second year of ^(F1)Darius the king of Persia, on the first day of the sixth month (Aug 29, 520 B.C.), the word of the LORD came by ^(C2)Haggai the prophet to ^(C3)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ^(C4)governor of Judah, and to ^(C5)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,² "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'These people say, "The time has not come that the LORD'S house (temple) should be ^(F1)rebuilt."'" ^(VR1)3 Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying,⁴ "Is it time for you yourselves to live in your expensive paneled houses while this house of the LORD ^(C1)lies in ruins?"⁵ Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways and thoughtfully reflect on your conduct!⁶ "You have ^(C1)planted much, but you harvest little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you do not have enough to be intoxicated; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns wages earns them just to put them in a bag with holes in it because God has withheld His blessing."

⁷ Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways and thoughtfully reflect on your conduct!⁸ "Go up to the hill country, bring lumber and ^(C1)rebuild My house (temple), that I may be ^(C2)pleased with it and be ^(C3)glorified," says the LORD accepting it as done for My glory.⁹ "^(C1)You look for much harvest, but it comes to little; and even when you bring that home, I ^(C2)blow it away. Why?" says the LORD of hosts. "Because of My house, which ^(C3)lies in ruins while each of you runs to his own house eager to enjoy it.¹⁰ "Therefore, because of you that is, your sin and disobedience the ^(C1)heavens withhold the dew and the earth withholds its produce.¹¹ "I called for a ^(C1)drought on the land and the hill country, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on ^(C2)men, on cattle, and on ^(C3)all the labor of your hands."

¹² Then ^(C1)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and ^(C2)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people who had returned from exile, listened carefully and ^(C3)obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, since the LORD their God had sent him. And the people reverently ^(C4)feared the LORD.¹³ Then Haggai, the LORD'S ^(C1)messenger, spoke the LORD'S message to the people saying, "'^(C2)I am with you,' declares the LORD."¹⁴ So the LORD stirred up the spirit of ^(C1)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ^(C1)governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the ^(C2)remnant of the people; and they came and ^(C3)worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,¹⁵ on the ^(F1)twenty-fourth day of the sixth month (Sept 21, 520 B.C.) in the second year of Darius the king.