Rebuild the Temple
1 On the first day of the sixth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia, the Lord told Haggai the prophet to speak his message to the governor of Judah and to the high priest.
So Haggai told Governor Zerubbabel and High Priest Joshua 2-5 that the Lord All-Powerful had said to them and to the people:
You say this isn't the right time to build a temple for me. But is it right for you to live in expensive houses, while my temple is a pile of ruins? Just look at what's happening. 6 You harvest less than you plant, you never have enough to eat or drink, your clothes don't keep you warm, and your wages are stored in bags full of holes.
7 Think about what I have said! 8 But first, go to the hills and get wood for my temple, so I can take pride in it and be worshiped there. 9 You expected much, but received only a little. And when you brought it home, I made that little disappear. Why have I done this? It's because you hurry off to build your own houses, while my temple is still in ruins. 10 That's also why the dew doesn't fall and your harvest fails. 11 And so, at my command everything will become barren—your farmland and pastures, your vineyards and olive trees, your animals and you yourselves. All your hard work will be for nothing.
12 Zerubbabel and Joshua, together with the others who had returned from exile in Babylonia, obeyed the Lord's message spoken by his prophet Haggai, and they started showing proper respect for the Lord. 13 Haggai then told them that the Lord had promised to be with them. 14 So the Lord God All-Powerful made everyone eager to work on his temple, especially Zerubbabel and Joshua. 15 And the work began on the twenty-fourth day of that same month.
1 In the second yeere of King Darius, in the sixt moneth, the first day of the moneth, came ye worde of the Lord (by the ministery of the Prophet Haggai) vnto Zerubbabel the sonne of Shealtiel, a prince of Iudah, and to Iehoshua the sonne of Iehozadak the hie Priest, saying, 2 Thus speaketh the Lord of hostes, saying, This people say, The time is not yet come, that the Lords House should be builded. 3 Then came the worde of the Lord by the ministerie of the Prophet Haggai, saying, 4 Is it time for your selues to dwell in your sieled houses, and this House lie waste? 5 Now therefore thus saith ye Lord of hostes, Consider your owne wayes in your hearts. 6 Ye haue sowen much, and bring in litle: ye eate, but ye haue not ynough: ye drinke, but ye are not filled: ye clothe you, but ye be not warme: and he that earneth wages, putteth the wages into a broken bagge. 7 Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, Consider your owne wayes in your hearts. 8 Goe vp to the mountaine, and bring wood, and build this House, and I wil be fauourable in it, and I will be glorified, sayth the Lord. 9 Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to litle: and when ye brought it home, I did blowe vpon it. And why, sayth the Lord of hostes? Because of mine House that is waste, and ye runne euery man vnto his owne house. 10 Therefore the heauen ouer you stayed it selfe from dewe, and the earth stayed her fruite. 11 And I called for a drought vpon the land, and vpon the mountaines, and vpon the corne, and vpon the wine, and vpon the oyle, vpon all that the ground bringeth foorth: both vpon men and vpon cattell, and vpon all the labour of the hands. 12 When Zerubbabel the sonne of Shealtiel, and Iehoshua the sonne of Iehozadak the hie Priest with all the remnant of the people, heard the voyce of the Lord their God, and the wordes of the Prophet Haggai (as the Lord their God had sent him) then the people did feare before the Lord. 13 Then spake Haggai the Lords messenger in the Lords message vnto the people, saying, I am with you, sayth the Lord. 14 And the Lord stirred vp the spirite of Zerubbabel, the sonne of Shealtiel a prince of Iudah, and the spirit of Iehoshua the sonne of Iehozadak the hie Priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came, and did the worke in the House of the Lord of hostes their God.