1 *In the second year of Dari'us the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by Hag'gai the prophet to Zerub'babel the son of She-al'ti-el, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehoz'adak, the high priest, ²“Thus says the LORD of hosts: This people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.” ³Then the word of the LORD came by Hag'gai the prophet, ⁴“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? ⁵Now therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider how you have fared. ⁶You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes.

2 In the second year of Dari'us the king, ¹in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by Hag'gai the prophet, ²“Speak now to Zerub'babel the son of She-al'ti-el, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehoz'adak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, ³‘Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? ⁴Yet now take courage, O Zerub'babel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehoz'adak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, ⁵according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit abides among you; fear not. ⁶For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; ⁷and I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the LORD of hosts. ⁸The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts. ⁹The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the LORD of hosts.’ ”

10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Dari'us, the word of the LORD came by Hag'gai the prophet, ¹¹“Thus says the LORD of hosts: Ask the priests to decide this question, ¹²‘If one carries holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and touches with his skirt bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, does it become holy?’ ” The priests answered, “No.” ¹³Then said Hag'gai, “If one who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered, “It does become unclean.” ¹⁴Then Hag'gai said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, says the LORD; and so with every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. ¹⁵Please now, consider what will come to pass from this day onward. Before a stone was placed upon a stone in the temple of the LORD, ¹⁶how did you fare? ^a When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the winevat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. ¹⁷I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and mildew and hail; yet you did not return to me, says the LORD. ¹⁸Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid, consider: ¹⁹Is the seed yet in the barn? Do the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still yield nothing? From this day on I will bless you.”