Haggai 1

¹ In 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,

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,

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.

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.

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.

¹⁰ Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.

¹¹ And 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.

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,

¹⁵ In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

World Behind This Chapter

Explore the people, places, language, history, and material world connected to Haggai 1.

QUESTIONS WORTH EXPLORING

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Why does Haggai record such exact dates?

Haggai dates messages by the regnal year of Darius I and by numbered lunar months and days. That administrative-style precision anchors the book in 520 BCE, although converting every notice to an exact modern calendar date depends on calendar reconstruction.

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Who were Zerubbabel and Joshua in Haggai 1?

Zerubbabel is identified as governor of Judah under Persian rule and also belongs to the Davidic family line. Joshua son of Jehozadak is the high priest. Haggai repeatedly addresses these two leaders alongside the remaining community.

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Were the people’s “paneled houses” necessarily luxurious?

SCHOLARLY DEBATE

The Hebrew adjective can describe something covered, roofed, or paneled. It may suggest finished or well-appointed houses, but the wording alone cannot establish that every house was luxurious or lined with imported cedar. The contrast is principally with the temple still lying ruined.

Explore the Hebrew →

WORTH A CLOSER LOOK

Artifacts

Read the royal inscription of Haggai’s Persian king

Darius I commissioned the Behistun relief and trilingual inscription after securing his throne. Produced around the same broad period as Haggai, it presents Darius’s own imperial account of rebellions and kingship. It does not mention Judah or the temple, but it introduces the ruler used to date every message in Haggai.

View the object →

⌘ Research PathsCurated links for exploring this chapter 3

History & Daily Life2

• Building the Second TempleBible Odyssey

  Explains the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s temple during the Persian period and the important roles attributed to returned Judeans, Zerubbabel, Joshua, Haggai, and Zechariah. It helps readers place Haggai’s demand to gather timber and resume construction within the broader history of the Second Temple.

• Darius I and the Restoration of the Persian EmpireWorld History Encyclopedia

  Introduces Darius I’s accession, suppression of revolts, administrative reforms, taxation, and imperial building program. This provides the Persian political setting for Haggai’s precisely dated message to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, in the second year of Darius.

Language & Literature1

• Haggai 1 in Hebrew and EnglishMechon Mamre

  Presents the Hebrew chapter beside an English translation. Useful for tracing the repeated command to “consider your ways,” contrasts between paneled houses and the ruined temple, agricultural frustration, wages placed in a pierced bag, and the dated sequence leading to renewed construction.