1In the second year of Dareyawesh the sovereign, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of יהוה came by Ḥaggai the prophet to Zerubbaḇel son of She’alti’ĕl, governor of Yehuḏah, and to Yehoshua son of Yehotsaḏaq, the high priest, saying,

2“Thus spoke יהוה of hosts, saying, ‘This people have said, “The time has not come, the time the House of יהוה is to be built.” ’ ”

3Then the word of יהוה came by Ḥaggai the prophet, saying,

4“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses, and this House be in ruins?”

5And now, thus said יהוה of hosts, “Consider your ways!

6“You have sown much, but brought in little; eat, but do not have enough; drink, but you are not filled with drink; clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

7Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Consider your ways!

8Go up to the mountain, and you shall bring wood and build the House. And I will be pleased with it, and let Me be esteemed,” said יהוה.

9“When you looked for much, then see, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I would blow on it. Why?” declares יהוה of hosts. “Because of My House which lies in ruins, while each of you runs to his own house.

10“Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its fruit.

11“And I called for a drought on the land, and on the mountains, and on the grain, and on the new wine, and on the oil, and on whatever the ground brings forth, and on man, and on livestock, and on all the labour of the hands.”

12Then Zerubbaḇel son of She’alti’ĕl, and Yehoshua son of Yehotsaḏaq, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of יהוה their Elohim, and the words of Ḥaggai the prophet, as יהוה their Elohim had sent him. And the people feared the presence of יהוה.

13And Ḥaggai, the messenger of יהוה, spoke the message of יהוה to the people, saying, “I am with you, declares יהוה.”

14And יהוה stirred up the spirit of Zerubbaḇel son of She’alti’ĕl, governor of Yehuḏah, and the spirit of Yehoshua son of Yehotsaḏaq, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the House of יהוה of hosts, their Elohim,

15on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Dareyawesh the sovereign.