A Call to Rebuild the Temple (Ezra 5:1–5)
1 ULT In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh was by the hand of Haggai the prophet to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and to the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak, saying, BSB BSB: In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating
2 ULT “Thus says Yahweh of Armies, saying:‘This people, they say,“The time has not come to rebuild the house of Yahweh.”’” BSB BSB: 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.’”
3 ULT Then the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying:
4 ULT “{ Is it} a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house{ is} desolate? BSB BSB: “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
5 ULT So now, thus says Yahweh of Armies:‘Set your heart upon your ways! BSB BSB: Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.
6 ULT You have sown much, but you have brought in little. You eat, but not to satiety. You drink, but not{ enough} to become drunk. One wears clothes, but he does not warm himself. And the wage earner earns wages into a punctured bag!’ BSB BSB: 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.”
7 ULT Thus says Yahweh of Armies:‘Set your heart upon your ways! BSB BSB: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.
8 ULT Go up{ to} the mountain and bring timber and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,’ says Yahweh. BSB BSB: Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the LORD.
9 ULT ‘You looked for much, but behold, little! And you brought{ it} home, but I blew upon it! Because of what?’— the declaration of Yahweh of Armies.‘Because of my house, that it{ is} desolate, but you are running, a man to his house. BSB BSB: 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.
10 ULT Therefore the heavens above you refrain from dew and the earth withholds its produce. BSB BSB: Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops.
11 ULT And I have called for desolation upon the land and upon the mountains and upon the grain and upon the new wine and upon the oil and upon what the ground produces and upon the man and upon the beast and upon all the labor of{ your} hands!’” BSB BSB: 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.”
The People Obey 12 ULT Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all of the remnant of the people listened to the voice of Yahweh their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet, because Yahweh their God had sent him and the people feared the face of Yahweh. BSB BSB: Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. So the people feared the LORD.
13 ULT Then Haggai, the messenger of Yahweh, spoke the message of Yahweh to the people, saying,“‘I{ am} with you!’— the declaration of Yahweh.” BSB BSB: Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, delivered the message of the LORD to the people: “I am with you,” declares the LORD.
14 ULT And Yahweh awakened the spirit of the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all of the remnant of the people, and they came and did the work on the house of Yahweh of Armies, their God, BSB BSB: So the LORD stirred the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and began the work on the house of the LORD of Hosts, their God,
15 ULT on the twenty- fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king, BSB BSB: on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.