Haggai Begins Temple Building
1 In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lordcame by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,
2 “Thus says the Lordof hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come,eventhe time for the house of the Lordto be rebuilt.”‘”
3 Then the word of the Lordcame by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this houseliesdesolate?”
5 Now therefore, thus says the Lordof hosts, “Consider your ways!
6 You have sown much, but harvest little;youeat, butthere isnotenoughto be satisfied;youdrink, butthere isnotenoughto become drunk;youput on clothing, but no one is warmenough;and he who earns, earns wagesto putinto a purse with holes.”
7 Thus says the Lordof hosts, “Consider your ways!
8 Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord.
9 “Youlook for much, but behold,it comesto little; when you bringithome, I blow itaway.Why?” declares the Lordof hosts, “Because of My house whichliesdesolate, while each of you runs to his own house.
10 Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce.
11 I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lordtheir God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lordtheir God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for the Lord.
13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke by the commission of the Lordto the people saying, ” ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord.”
14 So the Lordstirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lordof hosts, their God,
15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.
—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/HAG/1-a3a478148cad90c07a2114290c192d3d.mp3?version_id=100—