Isaiah 9:14-15

9:14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,

both the shoots and stalk ¹  in one day.

9:15 The leaders and the highly respected people ²  are the head,

the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

Psalms 128:2

128:2 You ³  will eat what you worked so hard to grow. ⁴ 

You will be blessed and secure. ⁵ 

Proverbs 14:23

14:23 In all hard work ⁶  there is profit,

but merely talking about it ⁷  only brings ⁸  poverty. ⁹ 

Habakkuk 3:17

3:17 When ¹⁰  the fig tree does not bud,

and there are no grapes on the vines;

when the olive trees do not produce, ¹¹ 

and the fields yield no crops; ¹² 

when the sheep disappear ¹³  from the pen,

and there are no cattle in the stalls,

Haggai 1:11

1:11 Moreover, I have called for a drought that will affect the fields, the hill country, the grain, new wine, fresh olive oil, and everything that grows from the ground; it also will harm people, animals, and everything they produce.’” ¹⁴ 

Haggai 1:1

Introduction

1:1 On the first day of the sixth month ¹⁵  of King Darius’ ¹⁶  second year, the Lord spoke this message through the prophet Haggai ¹⁷  to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak: ¹⁸ 

Haggai 1:11-12

1:11 Moreover, I have called for a drought that will affect the fields, the hill country, the grain, new wine, fresh olive oil, and everything that grows from the ground; it also will harm people, animals, and everything they produce.’” ¹⁹ 

The Response of the People

1:12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, ²⁰  along with the whole remnant of the people, ²¹  obeyed ²²  the Lord their God. They responded favorably to the message of the prophet Haggai, who spoke just as the Lord their God had instructed him, ²³  and the people began to respect the Lord. ²⁴ 

¹ sn The metaphor in this line is that of a reed being cut down.

² tn Heb “the elder and the one lifted up with respect to the face.” For another example of the Hebrew idiom, see 2 Kgs 5:1.

³ tn The psalmist addresses the representative God-fearing man, as indicated by the references to “your wife” (v. 3) and “the man” (v. 4), as well as the second masculine singular pronominal and verbal forms in vv. 2-6.

⁴ tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”

⁵ tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”

⁶ sn The Hebrew term עֶצֶב (’etsev, “painful toil; labor”) is first used in scripture in Gen 3:19 to describe the effects of the Fall. The point here is that people should be more afraid of idle talk than of hard labor.

⁷ tn Heb “word of lips.” This construct phrase features a genitive of source (“a word from the lips”) or a subjective genitive (“speaking a word”). Talk without work (which produces nothing) is contrasted with labor that produces something.

⁸ tn The term “brings” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

⁹ sn The noun מַחְסוֹר (makhsor, “need; thing needed; poverty”) comes from the verb “to lack; to be lacking; to decrease; to need.” A person given to idle talk rather than industrious work will have needs that go unmet.

¹⁰ tn Or “though.”

¹¹ tn Heb “the produce of the olive disappoints.”

¹² tn Heb “food.”

¹³ tn Or “are cut off.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “all the labor of hands” (similar KJV, NASB, NIV); cf. NAB “all that is produced by hand.”

¹⁵ sn The first day of the sixth month was Elul 1 according to the Jewish calendar; August 29, 520 b.c. according to the modern (Julian) calendar.

¹⁶ sn King Darius is the Persian king Darius Hystaspes who ruled from 522-486 b.c.

¹⁷ tn Heb “the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet” (בְּיַד־חַגַּי, bÿyad-khaggay). This suggests that the prophet is only an instrument of the Lord; the Lord is to be viewed as the true author (see 1:3; 2:1; Mal 1:1).

¹⁸ tn The typical translation “Joshua (the) son of Jehozadak, the high priest” (cf. ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) can be understood to mean that Jehozadak was high priest. However, Zech 3:1, 8 clearly indicates that Joshua was high priest (see also Ezra 5:1-2; cf. NAB). The same potential misunderstanding occurs in Hag 1:12, 14 and 2:2, where the same solution has been employed in the translation.

¹⁹ tn Heb “all the labor of hands” (similar KJV, NASB, NIV); cf. NAB “all that is produced by hand.”

²⁰ tn Many English versions have “Joshua [the] son of Jehozadak, the high priest,” but this is subject to misunderstanding. See the note on the name “Jehozadak” at the end of v. 1.

²¹ tn Heb “all the remnant of the people.” The Hebrew phrase שְׁאֵרִית הָעָם (shÿ’erit ha’am) in this postexilic context is used as a technical term to refer to the returned remnant (see Ezra 9:14; Isa 10:20-22; 11:11, 16; Jer 23:3; 31:7; and many other passages). Cf. TEV “all the people who had returned from the exile in Babylonia.”

²² tn Heb “heard the voice of”; NAB “listened to the voice of.”

²³ tn Heb “and according to the words of Haggai the prophet just as the Lord their God sent him.” Some English versions (e.g., NAB, NIV, NCV) take the last clause as causal: “because the Lord their God had sent him.”

²⁴ tn Heb “and the people feared from before the Lord”; NASB “showed reverence for the Lord.”