Haggai 1:13

1:13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s word to the people: ¹  “I am with you!” says the Lord.

Haggai 2:13-14

2:13 Then Haggai asked, “If a person who is ritually unclean because of touching a dead body ²  comes in contact with one of these items, will it become unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”

2:14 Then Haggai responded, “‘The people of this nation are unclean in my sight,’ ³  says the Lord. ‘And so is all their effort; everything they offer is also unclean. ⁴ 

[1:13]  ¹ tn Heb “Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, said by the message of the Lord to the people.” The Hebrew is highly repetitive; in keeping with contemporary English style this has been simplified in the translation.

[2:13]  ² tn Heb “unclean of a person,” a euphemism for “unclean because of a dead person”; see Lev 21:11; Num 6:6. Cf. NAB “unclean from contact with a corpse.”

[2:14]  ³ tn Heb “so this people, and so this nation before me.” In this context “people” and “nation” refer to the same set of individuals; the repetition is emphatic. Cf. CEV “this entire nation.”

[2:14]  ⁴ sn The point here is that the Jews cannot be made holy by unholy fellowship with their pagan neighbors; instead, they and their worship will become corrupted by such associations.