Much has been planted, but little got in; you take food, but have not enough; you take drink, but are not full; you are clothed, but no one is warm; and he who gets payment for his work, gets it to put it into a bag full of holes.

And by my order no rain came on the land or on the mountains or the grain or the wine or the oil or the produce of the earth or on men or cattle or on any work of man's hands.

Say now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, ruler of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the rest of the people,

Who is there still among you who saw this house in its first glory? and how do you see it now? is it not in your eyes as nothing?

But now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and get to work: for I am with you, says the Lord of armies:

The agreement which I made with you when you came out of Egypt, and my spirit, are with you still; have no fear.

These are the words of the Lord of armies: Put now a point of law to the priests, saying,

If anyone has some holy flesh folded in the skirt of his robe, will bread or soup or wine or oil or any other food be made holy if touched by his skirt? And the priests answering said, No.

And now, give thought, looking back from this day to the time before one stone was put on another in the Temple of the Lord:

And now, give thought; looking on from this day, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the time when the base of the Lord's house was put in its place, give thought to it.