A Call to Rebuild the Temple
(Ezra 5:1–5)

1In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of YHWH came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak,† the high priest, saying: 2Thus speaks YHWH of Hosts,

saying: “This people says, ‘The time has not come,

the time for the house of YHWH to be built.’”

3And the word came of YHWH by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying:

4“Is it time for you⁺ yourselves

to dwell in your⁺ paneled houses,

and this house is desolate?”

5And now, thus says YHWH of Hosts:

“Set your⁺ heart upon your⁺ ways.

6You⁺ have sown much,

and you have brought in little;

you eat, and not to satisfaction;

you drink, and not to drunkenness;

One wears clothes, and there is no warmth to it;

and the wage earner earns wages into a bag pierced through.”

7Thus says YHWH of Hosts:

“Set your⁺ heart upon your⁺ ways.

8Go up to the mountains,

and bring wood, and build the house,

that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,

says YHWH.

9You turned for much,

and behold, little;

and you⁺ brought it home, and I blew it away.

Because of what? An utterance of YHWH of Hosts,

because of My house, the way that it is in ruins,

while you⁺ are running,

each man to his house.

10Upon thus,

the heavens above you⁺ withhold the dew,

and the earth withholds its fruit.

11And I have called for a drought on the land,

and on the mountains,

and on the grain and on the new wine and on the oil,

and on whatever the ground brings forth,

and on mankind and on the livestock,

and on all the labor of the hands.”

The People Obey

12And Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, along with all the remnant of the people, listened to the voice of YHWH their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet, because YHWH their God had sent him; and the people were afraid before the face of YHWH.

13And Haggai the messenger of YHWH spoke the message of YHWH to the people, saying:

“I am with you⁺,”

a declaration of YHWH.

14And YHWH stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work on the house of YHWH of Hosts, their God, 15on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.