Haggai 2:17

I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God addresses the post-exilic community of Judah, speaking immediately after detailing their crop failures in Haggai 2:16 and just before directing their attention to the temple foundation day in Haggai 2:18.

The words — The verb הִכֵּ֨תִי (hi.Kei.ti) literally means "I struck," applied to "all the work of your hands" (כָּל־ מַעֲשֵׂה), while the nouns שִׁדָּפוֹן (blight), יֶרָקוֹן (mildew), and בָּרָד (hail) specify the agricultural devastation.

The thread — This declaration mirrors Deuteronomy 28:22’s catalog of blight and scorching heat, and Haggai 1:9 and Haggai 1:11 record the identical pattern of summoned drought and diminished harvests that precedes this statement.

Why it lands — The text states that despite repeated agricultural strikes, the people "did not turn to Me," presenting a direct call to recognize divine discipline and respond to God’s declaration.

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

הִכֵּ֨יתִיhi.Kei.tiI struck אֶתְכֶ֜ם'et./Khem<obj.>/ you בַּשִּׁדָּפ֤וֹןba./shi.da.Fonwith <the>/ blight וּבַיֵּֽרָקוֹן֙u./vai./ye.ra.kOnand/ with <the>/ mildew וּבַבָּרָ֔דu./va./ba.Radand/ with <the>/ hail אֵ֖ת'et<obj.>כָּל־kol-all מַעֲשֵׂ֣הma.'a.Seh[the] work of יְדֵיכֶ֑םye.dei./Khemhands/ your וְאֵין־ve./'ein-and/ not אֶתְכֶ֥ם'et./Khem<obj.>/ you אֵלַ֖י'e.La/ito/ me נְאֻם־ne.'um-[the] utterance of יְהוָֽה׃Yah.wehYahweh

King James Version

I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 28:22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.
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.
Haggai 1:11 I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.”
1 Kings 8:37 When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,
Amos 4:8 People staggered from city to city for water to drink, but they were not satisfied; yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
Genesis 42:6 Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.
Genesis 42:23 They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them.
Genesis 42:27 At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of the sack.
Exodus 9:18 Behold, at this time tomorrow I will rain down the worst hail that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now.