1In the second year of Darius the king , in the sixth month , in the first day of the month , came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel , governor of Judah , and to Joshua the son of Josedech , the high priest , saying , 2Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts , saying , This people say , The time is not come , the time that the LORD’s house should be built . 3Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet , saying , 4Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses , and this house lie waste ?
God's Rebuke and the Consequences of Neglect
5Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts ; Consider your ways . 6Ye have sown much , and bring in little ; ye eat , but ye have not enough ; ye drink , but ye are not filled with drink ; ye clothe you, but there is none warm ; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes . 7Thus saith the LORD of hosts ; Consider your ways . 8Go up to the mountain , and bring wood , and build the house ; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified , saith the LORD . 9Ye looked for much , and, lo, it came to little ; and when ye brought it home , I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts . Because of mine house that is waste , and ye run every man unto his own house . 10Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew , and the earth is stayed from her fruit . 11And I called for a drought upon the land , and upon the mountains , and upon the corn , and upon the new wine , and upon the oil , and upon that which the ground bringeth forth , and upon men , and upon cattle , and upon all the labour of the hands .
The People's Response and Action
12Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel , and Joshua the son of Josedech , the high priest , with all the remnant of the people , obeyed the voice of the LORD their God , and the words of Haggai the prophet , as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD . 13Then spake Haggai the LORD’s messenger in the LORD’s message unto the people , saying , I am with you, saith the LORD . 14And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel , governor of Judah , and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech , the high priest , and the spirit of all the remnant of the people ; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts , their God , 15In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month , in the second year of Darius the king .