Haggai 1 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, a message came from Yahweh through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the head priest.

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: These people keep saying the time has not come, the time for Yahweh's house to be rebuilt.

Then this message came from Yahweh through the prophet Haggai:

Is it time for you to be sitting in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?

So now, this is what Yahweh who commands armies says: Think carefully about the way things are going for you.

You have planted a lot and harvested little. You eat and never have enough. You drink and never get your fill. You put on clothes and nobody gets warm. And whoever earns wages earns them into a purse with holes in it.

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: Think carefully about the way things are going for you.

Go up into the hills, bring down timber, and build the house. Then I will be pleased with it, and I will be honored, says Yahweh.

You looked for a lot, and it came to little. You brought it home, and I blew it away. Why? says Yahweh who commands armies. Because my house lies in ruins while every one of you runs off to his own house.

That is why the sky above you has held back its dew, and the ground has held back its crops.

I called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil, on everything the soil brings up, on people and livestock and every bit of work your hands do.

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak the head priest, and everyone left of the people listened to the voice of Yahweh their God and to the words of the prophet Haggai, because Yahweh their God had sent him. And the people stood in awe of Yahweh.

Then Haggai, the messenger Yahweh had sent, delivered Yahweh's own message to the people: I am with you, says Yahweh.

And Yahweh woke up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak the head priest, and the spirit of everyone left of the people. They came and went to work on the house of Yahweh who commands armies, their God,

on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.