Haggai 2:17-23

2:17 I struck all the products of your labor ¹  with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,’ ²  says the Lord. 2:18 ‘Think carefully about the past: ³  from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, ⁴  to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, ⁵  think about it. ⁶  2:19 The seed is still in the storehouse, isn’t it? And the vine, fig tree, pomegranate, and olive tree have not produced. Nevertheless, from today on I will bless you.’”

Zerubbabel the Chosen One

2:20 Then the Lord spoke again to Haggai ⁷  on the twenty-fourth day of the month: ⁸  2:21 Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah: ‘I am ready ⁹  to shake the sky ¹⁰  and the earth. 2:22 I will overthrow royal thrones and shatter the might of earthly kingdoms. ¹¹  I will overthrow chariots and those who ride them, and horses and their riders will fall as people kill one another. ¹²  2:23 On that day,’ ¹³  says the Lord who rules over all, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant,’ ¹⁴  says the Lord, ‘and I will make you like a signet ring, ¹⁵  for I have chosen you,’ says the Lord who rules over all.” ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “you, all the work of your hands”; NRSV “you and all the products of your toil”; NIV “all the work of your hands.”

² tn Heb “and there was not with you.” The context favors the idea that the harvests were so poor that the people took care of only themselves, leaving no offering for the Lord. Cf. KJV and many English versions “yet ye turned not to me,” understanding the phrase to refer to the people’s repentance rather than their failure to bring offerings.

³ tn Heb “set your heart.” A similar expression occurs in v. 15.

⁴ sn The twenty-fourth day of the ninth month was Kislev 24 or December 18, 520. See v. 10. Here the reference is to “today,” the day the oracle is being delivered.

⁵ sn The day work…was resumed. This does not refer to the initial founding of the Jerusalem temple in 536 b.c. but to the renewal of construction three months earlier (see 1:15). This is clear from the situation described in v. 19 which accords with the food scarcities of that time already detailed in Hag 1:10-11.

⁶ tn Heb “set your heart.” A similar expression occurs in v. 15 and at the beginning of this verse.

⁷ 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.

⁸ sn Again, the twenty-fourth day of the month was Kislev 24 or December 18, 520 b.c. See v. 10.

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ tn See the note on the word “sky” in 2:6. Most English translations render the Hebrew term as “heavens” here.

¹¹ tn Heb “the kingdoms of the nations.” Cf. KJV “the kingdoms of the heathen”; NIV, NLT “foreign kingdoms.”

¹² tn Heb “and horses and their riders will go down, a man with a sword his brother”; KJV “every one by the sword of his brother.”

¹³ sn The expression on that day appears as a technical eschatological term in a number of other OT passages (cf., e.g., Isa 2:11, 17, 20; 3:7, 18; Amos 8:3, 9; Hos 2:18, 21).

¹⁴ sn My servant. The collocation of “servant” and “chosen” bears strong messianic overtones. See the so-called “Servant Songs” and other messianic texts in Isaiah (Isa 41:8; 42:1; 44:4; 49:7).

¹⁵ sn The noun signet ring, used also to describe Jehoiachin (Jer 22:24-30), refers to a ring seal worn by a king or other important person and used as his signature. Zerubbabel was a grandson of King Jehoiachin (1 Chr 3:17-19; Matt 1:12); God once pronounced that none of Jehoiachin’s immediate descendants would rule (Jer 22:24-30), but here he reverses that judgment. Zerubbabel never ascended to such a lofty position of rulership; he is rather a prototype of the Messiah who would sit on David’s throne.

¹⁶ tn The repetition of the formula “says the Lord who rules over all” in v. 23 emphasizes the solemn and divine nature of the promise.