Haggai 1:7-8

The Instruction of the People

1:7 “Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Pay close attention to these things also. ¹  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.

[1:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Set your heart upon your ways”; see v. 5.

[1:8]  ² tn Heb “and build the house” (so NIV, NRSV), with “house” referring specifically to the temple here.

[1:8]  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).

[1:8]  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”).