1 ¶ In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,

2 The LORD of hosts says this, These people say, The time has not yet come, the time when the LORD’S temple should be rebuilt.

3 Then the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying,

4 Is it time for you yourselves to live in paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

5 Therefore the LORD of hosts now says this; Consider your ways.

6 You have sown much, but reap little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes.

7 The LORD of hosts says; Think carefully about what you are doing.

8 Go up to the mountain, get wood, and build the temple; and I will be delighted with it, and I will be honored, says the LORD.

9 You expected much, but look, it amounted to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? asks the LORD of hosts. Because of my temple that is in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

10 Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds her fruit.

11 And I have called for a drought on the land, and on the hills; on the grain, and on the new wine; on the oil, and on what the ground brings forth; on men, on cattle, and on all that your hands labor for.

12 ¶ Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and all the people who were left, listened to the voice of the LORD their God, according to the words of Haggai the prophet, since the LORD their God had sent him, and the people feared the LORD.

13 Then Haggai, the LORD’S messenger with the LORD’S message, spoke to the people, saying, The LORD says I am with you.

14 And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the people who were left; and they came and went to work on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,

15 On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.