Thus, speaketh Yahweh of hosts, saying, - This people, have said, Not yet hath come the time for the house of Yahweh to be built.

Ye have sown much, but have brought in little, have eaten, and not been filled, have drunk, and not been satisfied with drink, have clothed you, and none hath been warm, - and, he that hath hired himself out, hath put his wages into a bag with holes.

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

The very thing that I solemnized with you, when ye came forth out of the land of Egypt, That, my spirit abiding in your midst, ye should not fear.

Now, therefore, I pray you apply your heart, from this day and upwards, - So long as there had not been laid one stone upon another in the temple of Yahweh,

I smote you with blight and with mildew and with hail, in all the work of your hands, - Yet ye did not return unto me, Declareth Yahweh.