Haggai Chapter 1 revolves around the building of a house for the Lord.

God Calls Haggai to Prophesy

During the second year of the reign of King Darius, the Lord spoke to a prophet named Haggai. Through the prophet, the Lord also let His will be known to the governor of all of Judah and to Joshua, the High Priest. To these men, the Lord would say when the time was right to rebuild His house.

God is Angry at the People

Through the prophet Haggai, the Lord noted that these men lived in great houses while His house was still in ruins. Haggai told the men to seriously think about the way they lived. They seemed to only care about pleasure and they had become lazy. Their greed and sloth were slowly beginning to define who they were. Their future would be one of ruin if they did not mend their ways.

Building God’s House

The Lord instructed these men to start building His house. The house had to be built so the Lord could be honored. The Lord was not thrilled these men had allowed His house to collapse while they lived in luxury homes.

God had also punished these men for their actions. The punishments came in the form of a great drought. He also made their crops weak. Nothing of any value was harvested and the people of the land would suffer because of it.

Following God’s Commands

Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people of the land did as God commanded them. They followed the message of the prophet and began to build a house for the Lord. They did this because they were in righteous fear of Him. As they were building the house for the Lord, God sent word to the people that He was now with them once again.

Haggai 1 (King James Version)

1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,

2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.

3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.

9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.

10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.

11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD.

13 Then spake Haggai the LORD’S messenger in the LORD’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD.

14 And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,

15 In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.