1In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of the prophet Aggæus, saying, Speak to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Juda, and to ⁰Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest, saying,

2Thus saith the Lord Almighty, saying, This people say, The time is not come to build the house of the Lord.

3And the word of the Lord came by the hand of the prophet Aggæus, saying,

4Is it time for you to dwell in your ceiled houses, whereas our house is desolate?

5And now thus saith the Lord Almighty; Consider your ways, I pray you.

6Ye have sown much, but brought in little; ye have eaten, and are not satisfied; ye have drunk, and are not satisfied with drink, ye have clothed yourselves, and have not become warm ¹thereby: and he that earns wages has gathered them into a bag full of holes.

7Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Consider your ways.

8Go up to the mountain, and cut timber; build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and be glorified, saith the Lord.

9Ye looked for much, and there came little; and it was brought into the house, and I blew it away. Therefore thus saith the Lord Almighty, Because my house is desolate, and ye run every one into his own house;

10therefore shall the sky withhold dew, and the earth shall keep back her produce.

11And I will bring a sword upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and all that the earth produces, and upon the men, and upon the cattle, and upon all the labours of their hands.

12And Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Juda, and Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people, hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of the prophet Aggæus, according as the Lord their God had sent him to them, and the people feared before the Lord.

13And Aggæus the Lord's messenger spoke among the messengers of the Lord to the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord.

14And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Juda, and the spirit of Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest, and the spirit of the remnant of all the people; and they went in, and wrought in the house of the Lord Almighty their God,

15on the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.