Go up to the mountains, bring wood, and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be honored,” says the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” says Yahweh.
- KJV Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.
- BSB Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the LORD.
- NKJV Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord.
- NLT Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says 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
God commands the people to gather timber and rebuild the temple so that He may be glorified. Obedience in worship is what pleases Him.
Overview
The instruction is concrete: go to the hills, bring wood, and build. God's stated purpose is His own pleasure and glory, the chief end of all worship. The temple ultimately pointed forward to Christ, in whom God's glory dwells fully and through whom His people are now built into a spiritual house (John 2:19-21; 1 Peter 2:5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 132:13–14For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation.
- 2 Chr 7:16For now I have chosen and made this house holy, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.
- 2 Chr 2:8–10“Send me also cedar trees, cypress trees, and algum trees out of Lebanon; for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. Behold, my servants will be with your servants,
- Hag 2:7and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies.
- Hag 1:2–4“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.’”
- Jonah 3:1–2Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the second time, saying,
- Ezra 3:7They also gave money to the masons, and to the carpenters. They also gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus King of Persia.
- Exod 29:43There I will meet with the children of Israel; and the place shall be sanctified by my glory.
- 1 Kgs 9:3Yahweh said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
- Zech 11:1–2Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.
- John 13:31–32When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.
- Ps 87:2–3Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
- Isa 66:11that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.”
- Hag 2:9‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says Yahweh of Armies; ‘and in this place will I give peace,’ says Yahweh of Armies.”
- Isa 60:13“The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
- Ezra 6:4with three courses of great stones and a course of new timber. Let the expenses be given out of the king’s house.
- Matt 3:8–9Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!
- Isa 60:7All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you. The rams of Nebaioth will serve you. They will be accepted as offerings on my altar; and I will beautify my glorious house.
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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 1:8 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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