Bible Strands
Haggai 1:2
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.’”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD of Hosts speaks through Haggai to Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest in the second year of Darius’s reign. The message confronts the people’s collective delay in rebuilding the temple.
The words — The formula כֹּ֥ה אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת (koh amar Yahweh tzeva'ot) translates literally to "thus says the LORD of Hosts," marking divine authority. The verb אָֽמְר֔וּ (ame.ru) "they have said" records the people’s own justification for postponement.
The thread — The pattern of stalled reconstruction and discouraged labor appears in Ezra 4:23 and Nehemiah 4:10, where external pressure and exhaustion halt building projects. Ecclesiastes 9:10 reinforces the principle of urgent work while the window of opportunity remains open.
Why it lands — The text first records the people’s claim that "the time has not yet come" before any prophetic correction follows. It requires the reader to identify personal delays in obedience and replace self-determined timing with immediate action.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Ezra 4:23 When the text of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and forcibly stopped them.
- Nehemiah 4:10 Meanwhile, the people of Judah said: “The strength of the laborer fails, and there is so much rubble that we will never be able to rebuild the wall.”
- Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
- Numbers 13:31 But the men who had gone up with him replied, “We cannot go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are!”
- Ecclesiastes 11:4 He who watches the wind will fail to sow, and he who observes the clouds will fail to reap.
- Song of Solomon 5:2 I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”
- Proverbs 26:13 The slacker says, “A lion is in the road! A fierce lion roams the public square!”
- Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is set securely on high.
- Proverbs 22:13 The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”