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.

But now, do consider [what will happen] from this day forward: before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord,

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

Consider, I pray you, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth [month], since the day that the foundation of LORD's temple was laid, consider it.