Thus speaks LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, It is not the time [for us] to come, the time for LORD's house to be built.

Ye have sown much, and bring in little. Ye eat, but ye have not enough. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe yourselves, but there is none warm. And he who earns wages earns wages [to put] into a bag with holes.

Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? And how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes as nothing?

[according to] the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit abode among you. Fear ye not.

I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands, yet ye [turned] not to me, says LORD.

Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not brought forth. From this day I will bless [you].