God wants a house to take pleasure in
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,
The word of God came to Haggai, saying, [1]
2
Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not
come, the time that the LORD's house should be built.
3
Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
The people say,
It's not time to build God's house.
4
Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house
lie waste?
5
Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
6
Ye 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.
7
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
Yet they live in fancy houses,
while my house is in ruins.
8
Go 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.
I asked you to build me a house
that I can enjoy and be glorified in.
9
Ye 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.
But you took care of your own things,
and ignored my request.
So I huffed, and I puffed, and I blew on the land, [2]
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.
which caused the drought that has destroyed your crops.
12
Then 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.
13
Then spake Haggai the LORD's messenger in the LORD's message unto the
people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD.
14
And 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.
So the people began to build God a house.