A Call to Rebuild the Temple (Ezra 5:1–5)
1 UST The prophet Haggai received a message from Yahweh in the second year after Darius had become king of Persia. Haggai received this message on the first day of the sixth month of that year. He told it to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel. Haggai also told the message to the high priest, Joshua the son of Jehozadak. He said, 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 UST “Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, says this:‘The people{ of Judah} are saying that it is not yet the right time for them to rebuild my temple.’” 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 UST Yahweh then told the prophet Haggai to tell the people this: BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying:
4 UST “It is not right for you to live in comfortable houses while you have still not repaired Yahweh’ s temple! BSB BSB: “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
5 UST So this is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is telling you:‘Think about what you are doing! BSB BSB: Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.
6 UST You are planting many seeds, but you are not harvesting many crops. You eat food, but you never get enough to eat. You drink wine, but you never get enough to satisfy you. You still have clothes to wear, but they are so worn- out that they no longer keep you warm. You earn money, but it is not enough to pay your expenses.’ 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 UST So this is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is telling you:‘Think about what you should do differently! BSB BSB: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.
8 UST Go up into the hills and cut down trees! Bring the timber from them here to Jerusalem and rebuild my temple! This will honor me, and I will be proud of my temple again.’ That is what Yahweh is telling you. 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 UST Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is also telling you,‘There is a reason why you have not grown many crops even though you have planted many seeds. The reason is that I kept the crops from growing. I did that because you have built comfortable homes for yourselves, but you have not repaired my temple. 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 UST Because you were not repairing my temple, I kept the crops from growing by making it so dry that no rain fell from the sky and there was not even any moisture on the ground in the mornings. BSB BSB: Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops.
11 UST I have kept the plants from growing in the fields and on the mountains. I have kept your wheat and barley from growing. I have kept your vines from producing grapes. I have kept your olive trees from producing olives. Even though you worked very hard, you were not able to grow enough food. As a result, both people and animals have not had enough to eat.’” 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 UST { The governor of Judah,} Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, knew that Yahweh their God had told the prophet Haggai to speak this message. The high priest, Joshua the son of Jehozadak, also knew this. The rest of the people who had returned to Judah from exile in Babylon also knew this. And they all respected Yahweh. So they all obeyed the message that Yahweh their God had spoken. 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 UST { Yahweh was pleased that the people had obeyed him. So} Yahweh gave Haggai, his messenger, another message to speak to the people. Haggai said,“Yahweh is telling you,‘I am with you!’” 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 UST This message from Yahweh made the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, want to rebuild the temple. It also made the high priest, Joshua the son of Jehozadak, want to rebuild the temple. It also made the rest of the people want to rebuild the temple. So they all gathered together and started rebuilding the temple of Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly 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 UST They started the work on the twenty- fourth day of the sixth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia. BSB BSB: on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.