Bible Strands
Haggai 1:9
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — YHWH speaks through the prophet Haggai to the post-exilic Judahite community, addressing them immediately after commanding them to rebuild the temple and right before detailing the agricultural drought as divine consequence.
The words — The Hebrew פָּנֹה (pa.Noh) and הַרְבֵּה (har.Beh) literally denote "turning to look" and "much," framing the people's eager expectation. The verb נָפַחְתִּי (na.Fach.ti) means "I blew," describing God's active dispersal of their gathered harvest.
The thread — The text's theme of misplaced priorities and divine withholding recurs in Haggai 1:4 and Haggai 2:16, which document the same pattern of diminished harvests and neglected temple construction. Malachi 2:2 later echoes this warning by threatening a curse for failing to honor God's name.
Why it lands — The text states that God actively frustrates human labor because the people prioritize their own homes over His ruined house. It asks the reader to examine whether personal comfort is displacing divine priority in their own life.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Haggai 1:4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
- Haggai 2:16 from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.
- Malachi 2:2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.
- Revelation 3:19 Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
- Psalms 77:5 I considered the days of old, the years long in the past.
- Isaiah 40:7 The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.
- Haggai 1:6 You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”
- Joshua 7:10 But the LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen on your face?
- 2 Samuel 21:1 During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”
- 2 Samuel 22:16 The channels of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the world were exposed at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils.