You have sowed much but have reaped little. You have eaten but don't have enough to become satisfied. You have drunk but don't have enough to become intoxicated. You have clothed yourself but don't have enough to keep warm. And the hired laborer deposits his salary in a bag full of holes!'"

"You turned away in pursuit of abundance, but look at how little you found! What you did manage to bring home, I blew away! And why?' declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. "It's because of my house! It lies in ruins while each of you runs off to his own house!

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people [who had returned from exile], listened carefully and obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, since the Lord their God had sent him. And the people [reverently] feared the Lord.

'Who is left among you, that saw this house in her first beauty? But what think ye now by it? Is it not in your eyes, even as though it were nothing?

But now be strong, Zerubbabel, saith Jehovah; and be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith Jehovah, and work: for I am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts.

But now, please {consider} from this day forward, before one stone was placed on another in the temple of Yahweh,

before those days were, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the vat to draw out fifty press-measures, there were but twenty.

I struck you with blight, and with plant mildew, and hail, all the work of your hands. But {you did not come back to me},' {declares} Yahweh.

Is there seed left in the granary? Up until now, neither the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, nor the olive tree has borne fruit, but from this very day I will bless you.'"