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.
Parallel translations
- WEB “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.’”
- 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 4:23Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.
- Neh 4:10And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.
- Eccl 9:10Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
- Num 13:31But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
- Song 5:2–3I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.
- Eccl 11:4He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
- Prov 29:25The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
- Prov 26:13–16The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.
- Prov 22:13The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
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 1:2 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
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