Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.
- KJV Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
- NKJV Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.
- NASB Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.
- NLT It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Because of the people's neglect, the heavens withhold rain and the ground withholds its produce. Creation itself reflects God's displeasure.
Overview
The withholding of dew and crops fulfills the covenant warnings of Deuteronomy 28:23-24. God, sovereign over nature, links the land's barrenness directly to the people's spiritual neglect. The verse teaches that all of creation serves the purposes of its Maker, including His discipline of His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Kgs 8:35When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,
- Lev 26:19I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,
- 1 Kgs 17:1Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”
- Deut 28:23–24The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.
- Joel 1:18–20How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
- Jer 14:1–6This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
- Hos 2:9Therefore I will take back My grain in its time and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were given to cover her nakedness.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The promise that the latter glory of the temple will exceed the former, and that God will shake the nations and bring 'the desire of all nations,' is fulfilled when Christ enters his temple.
How Haggai 1:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.