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 2:11

2:11 “The Lord who rules over all says, ‘Ask the priests about the law. ⁵ 

Haggai 2:21

2:21 Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah: ‘I am ready ⁶  to shake the sky ⁷  and the earth.

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

⁴ tn The participle here suggests an imminent undertaking of action (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT “I am about to”). The overall language of the passage is eschatological, but eschatology finds its roots in the present.

⁵ tn See the note on the word “sky” in 2:6. Most English translations render the Hebrew term as “heavens” here.