Haggai 2:6

2:6 Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says: ‘In just a little while ¹  I will once again shake the sky ²  and the earth, the sea and the dry ground.

Haggai 2:15

2:15 Now therefore reflect carefully on the recent past, ³  before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. ⁴ 

[2:6]  ¹ tc The difficult MT reading עוֹד אַחַת מְעַט הִיא (’od ’akhat mÿ’at hi’, “yet once, it is little”; cf. NAB “One moment yet, a little while”) appears as “yet once” in the LXX, omitting the last two Hebrew words. However, the point being made is that the anticipated action is imminent; thus the repetition provides emphasis.

[2:6]  ² tn Or “the heavens.” The same Hebrew word, שָׁמַיִם (shamayim), may be translated “sky” or “heavens” depending on the context. Although many English versions translate the term as “heavens” here, the other three elements present in this context (earth, sea, dry ground) suggest “sky” is in view.

[2:15]  ³ tn Heb “and now set your heart from this day and upward.” The juxtaposition of מָעְלָה (ma’lah, “upward”) with the following מִטֶּרֶם (mitterem, “before”) demands a look to the past. Cf. ASV “consider from this day and backward.”

[2:15]  ⁴ sn Before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple is best taken as referring to the laying of the present temple’s foundation, sixteen years earlier (536 b.c.; see Ezra 3:8). Cf. NCV “before you started laying stones”; TEV “before you started to rebuild”; NLT “before you began to lay (started laying CEV) the foundation.”