Thus speaks LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, It is not the time [for us] to come, the time for LORD's house to be built.

Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lays waste?

Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little, and when ye brought it home, I blew upon it. Why? says LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lays waste while ye run each man to his own house.

Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.

And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of th

Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says LORD, and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and be strong, all ye people of the land, says LORD, and work. For I am with you, says LORD of hosts,

[according to] the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit abode among you. Fear ye not.

For thus says LORD of hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.

In that day, says LORD of hosts, I will take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says LORD, and will make thee as a signet. For I have chosen thee, says LORD of hosts.