Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that Jehovah's house should be built.

Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but are not satisfied; ye drink, but are not filled with drink; ye clothe yourselves, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages for 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 as nothing in your eyes?

The word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit, remain among you: fear ye not.

I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands; and ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah.

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 will I bless you.