New English Translation
Haggai 1:4
4“Is it right for you to live in richly paneled houses while my temple is in ruins?
Haggai 1:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
- New International Version (NIV)“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
- English Standard Version (ESV)"Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?”
Context of Haggai 1:4
2The Lord who rules over all says this: “These people have said, ‘The time for rebuilding the Lord’s temple has not yet come.’” 3So the Lord spoke through the prophet Haggai as follows: “Is it right for you to live in richly paneled houses while my temple is in ruins? 5Here then is what the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Think carefully about what you are doing. 6You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but are never filled. You drink, but are still thirsty. You put on clothes, but are not warm. Those who earn wages end up with holes in their money bags.’”
Read all of Haggai 1Haggai 1:4 word by word
הַעֵ֤ת לָכֶם֙ אַתֶּ֔ם לָשֶׁ֖בֶת בְּבָתֵּיכֶ֣ם סְפוּנִ֑ים וְהַבַּ֥יִת הַזֶּ֖ה חָרֵֽב׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Haggai 1:4
- 2 Samuel 7:2The king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent.”
- Psalms 132:3He said, “I will not enter my own home, or get into my bed.
- Matthew 6:33But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
- Philippians 2:21Others are busy with their own concerns, not those of Jesus Christ.
- Psalms 74:7They set your sanctuary on fire; they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground.
- Psalms 102:14Indeed, your servants take delight in her stones, and feel compassion for the dust of her ruins.
- Jeremiah 26:6If you do not obey me, then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. And I will make this city an example to be used in curses by people from all the nations on the earth.’”
- Jeremiah 52:13He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house.
- Lamentations 2:7The Lord rejected his altar and abhorred his temple. He handed over to the enemy her palace walls; the enemy shouted in the Lord’s temple as if it were a feast day. ח (Khet)
- Lamentations 4:1Alas! Gold has lost its luster; pure gold loses value. Jewels are scattered on every street corner. ב (Bet)
- Ezekiel 24:21Say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Realize I am about to desecrate my sanctuary – the source of your confident pride, the object in which your eyes delight, and your life’s passion. Your very own sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die by the sword.
- Daniel 9:17“So now, our God, accept the prayer and requests of your servant, and show favor to your devastated sanctuary for your own sake.
- Micah 3:12Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed up like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount will become a hill overgrown with brush!
- Matthew 24:1Now as Jesus was going out of the temple courts and walking away, his disciples came to show him the temple buildings.
Commentaries on Haggai 1:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Is it time for you - If the time be not come to rebuild the temple, it cannot be come for you to build yourselves comfortable houses: but ye are rebuilding your houses; why then do ye not rebuild the house of the Lord? The foundation of the temple had been laid fourteen years before, and some considerable progress made in the building; and it had been lying waste in that unfinished state to the present time.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Is it time for you - You, being what you are, the creatures of God, “to dwell in your ceiled houses,” more emphatically, in your houses, and those “ceiled,” probably with costly woods, such as cedar. But where then was the excuse of want of means? They imitated, in their alleged poverty, what is spoken of as magnificent in their old kings, Solomon and Shallum, but not having, as Solomon first did (1 Kings 6:9, ויספן ), “covered the house of God with beams…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4Is it a time for you: Rhetorical questions in prophetic literature seek agreement, not a reply (see Haggai 2:3). This question aims to prevent listeners from making excuses in response to the message. The people's luxurious (paneled) houses contrasted with God's temple, which was desolate (in ruins) and unusable.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. Is it time--It is not time (Hag 1:2), ye say, to build Jehovah's house; yet how is it that ye make it a fit time not only to build, but to "dwell" at ease in your own houses? you, O ye--rather, for "you, you"; the repetition marking the shameful contrast between their concern for themselves, and their unconcern for God [Maurer]. Compare a similar repetition in 1Sa 25:24; Zec 7:5. ceiled--rather, "wainscoted," or "paneled," referring to the walls as…Read the comment
Topics related to Haggai 1:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Haggai 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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