“This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for Yahweh’s house to be built.’”
Parallel translations
- KJV Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built.
- BSB that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.’”
- NKJV “Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” ’ ”
- NASB “This is what the Lord of armies says: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.” ’ ”
- NLT “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’”
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
The people excuse their inaction by claiming the time to rebuild the temple has not yet come. Their delay reveals misplaced priorities, not genuine obstacles.
Overview
Returned exiles had laid the temple's foundation years earlier but quit under opposition and discouragement (Ezra 4). 'Yahweh of Armies' stresses God's sovereign power over all hosts. Their excuse exposes a heart that values comfort over God's house and worship, the very issue Haggai is sent to confront.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ezra 4:23Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them to cease by force of arms.
- Neh 4:10Judah said, “The strength of the bearers of burdens is fading, and there is much rubble; so that we are not able to build the wall.”
- Eccl 9:10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.
- Num 13:31But the men who went up with him said, “We aren’t able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.”
- Song 5:2–3I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night.”
- Eccl 11:4He who observes the wind won’t sow; and he who regards the clouds won’t reap.
- Prov 29:25The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in Yahweh is kept safe.
- Prov 26:13–16The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion roams the streets!”
- Prov 22:13The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 1:2 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.