Haggai 1:5

1:5 Here then is what the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Think carefully about what you are doing. 1 

Haggai 1:8

1:8 Go up to the hill country and bring back timber to build 2  the temple. 3  Then I will be pleased and honored,’ 4  says the Lord.

Haggai 2:1

The Glory to Come

2:1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, 5  the Lord spoke again through the prophet Haggai: 6 

Haggai 2:11

2:11 “The Lord who rules over all says, ‘Ask the priests about the law. 7 

Haggai 2:20

Zerubbabel the Chosen One

2:20 Then the Lord spoke again to Haggai 8  on the twenty-fourth day of the month: 9 

1 tn Heb “Set your heart upon your ways” (see 2:15, 18); traditionally “Consider your ways” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).

2 tn Heb “and build the house” (so NIV, NRSV), with “house” referring specifically to the temple here.

3 sn The temple was built primarily of stone, so the timber here refers to interior paneling (see v. 4) and perhaps to scaffolding (see Ezra 5:8; 6:4).

4 tn The Hebrew verb אֶכָּבְדָ (’ekkavda) appears to be a defectively written cohortative (“that I may be glorified”). The cohortatives (note that the preceding אֶרְצֶה, ’ertseh, “I will be pleased,” may also be taken as cohortative) indicate purpose/result (cf. NIV, NRSV “so that”; CEV “so”) following the imperatives of v. 8a (“go up,” “bring back,” “build”).

3 tn Heb “In the seventh [month], on the twenty-first day of the month.”

4 tc Heb “the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying.” The MT has בְּיַד (bÿyad, “by the hand of” = “through” [so NAB, NIV, NLT] as in 1:1, 3); the Murabba’at Dead Sea text reads אֶל (’el, “to”), perhaps because the following command is given to the prophet.

4 tn Heb “Ask the priests a torah, saying”; KJV “concerning the law”; NAB “for a decision”; NCV “for a teaching”; NRSV “for a ruling.”

5 tn Heb “and the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai.” This Hebrew expression is like the one in 2:10 and is slightly different from the one in 1:1, 3; 2:1.

6 sn Again, the twenty-fourth day of the month was Kislev 24 or December 18, 520 b.c. See v. 10.