“You start an ambitious project, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of armies. “It is because of My house which remains desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.
Parallel translations
- WEB “You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says Yahweh of Armies, “Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.
- KJV Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
- BSB You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
- NKJV “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.
- NLT You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses.
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 reveals that He Himself frustrated their efforts because they neglected His house while pursuing their own. Their hardship was a purposeful discipline.
Overview
The people expected abundance but found little, and God says He 'blew it away.' He plainly names the cause: His ruined house ignored while each man busied himself with his own. This shows that God governs even the outcomes of harvest and labor, and that He disciplines His people to draw them back to Himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Hag 1:4“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?
- Hag 2:16–17Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty.
- Rev 3:19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Mal 2:2If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.
- Ps 77:5–10I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
- Isa 40:7The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.
- Hag 1:6You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.”
- 2 Sam 21:1There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
- 2 Kgs 19:7Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”
- Mal 3:8–11Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings.
- 1 Cor 11:30–32For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.
- Josh 7:10–15Yahweh said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face like that?
- Rev 2:4But I have this against you, that you left your first love.
- Isa 17:10–11For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.
- Matt 10:37–38He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
- 2 Sam 22:16Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by Yahweh’s rebuke, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
- Job 10:2I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
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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 1:9 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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