Haggai 1 - Summary

In the second year of Darius king of Persia, the word of the LORD comes through Haggai to Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest, challenging the people's claim that the time has not yet come to rebuild the temple while they dwell in paneled houses. The LORD diagnoses their economic frustrations—sowing much but harvesting little, eating without satisfaction, earning wages only to put them in bags with holes—as direct consequences of neglecting His house while pursuing their own. When the leaders and remnant obey the prophetic word, the LORD stirs their spirits and they begin work on the temple on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.