Haggai 1:11

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating ²that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: "These people say, 'The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.'" ³Then the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying: ⁴"Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?" ⁵Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Think carefully about your ways. ⁶You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through." ⁷This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Think carefully about your ways. ⁸Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the LORD. ⁹You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house. ¹⁰Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I called: Deuteronomy 28:22, 1 Kings 17:1, 2 Kings 8:1, Job 34:29, Lamentations 1:21, Amos 5:8, Amos 7:4, Amos 9:6

upon all: Haggai 2:17

Reciprocal: Psalms 105:16 - Moreover Psalms 107:37 - which may Isaiah 19:15 - General Jeremiah 3:3 - the showers Jeremiah 8:13 - there Joel 1:10 - the new Amos 4:7 - I have

Cross-References

Genesis 1:9
And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear." And it was so.

Genesis 1:13
And there was evening, and there was morning-the third day.

Genesis 1:14
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.

Genesis 1:16
God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.

Genesis 1:17
God set these lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth,

Genesis 1:20
And God said, "Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky."

Genesis 1:29
Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.

Genesis 2:5
Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted; for the LORD God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.

Genesis 2:9
Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16
And the LORD God commanded him, "You may eat freely from every tree of the garden,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I called for a drought upon the land,.... Upon the whole land of Judea; as he withheld the dew and rain from falling on it to moisten it, refresh it, and make it fruitful; so he ordered a vehement heat to dry and parch it; and directed the rays of the sun to strike with great force upon it, and cause the fruits of it to wither; and which is done by a word of his; when he calls, every creature obeys. There is an elegant play on words, which shows the justness of such a proceeding, that it was according to the law of retaliation; they suffered the house of God to lie חרב, "waste", and therefore he calls for חרב, a "wasting" drought, to come upon their land:

and upon the mountains; where herbage grew, and herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were fed; but now the grass through the drought was withered away, and so no pasturage for them, and in course must perish:

and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil; that is, upon the grain fields, and upon the vines and olive trees; so that they produced but very little grain, wine, and oil, and that not very good, and which was not satisfying and refreshing; at least there were not enough for their support and comfort: now these three things were the principal necessaries of life in the country of Judea, and therefore a scarcity of them was very distressing:

and upon [that] which the ground bringeth forth; whatever else not mentioned the earth produced, as figs, pomegranates, and other fruit:

and upon men, and upon cattle; who not only suffered in this drought, by the above said things it came upon; but by diseases it produced upon them, as the pestilence and fever among men, and murrain upon the cattle:

and upon all the labour of the hands: of men; whatsoever fields and gardens, trees and plants of every kind, that were set and cultivated by them. Of this drought, and the famine that came upon it, we nowhere else read; but there is no doubt to be made of it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I called for a drought upon the land - God called to the people and they would not hear. It is His ever-repeated complaint to them. “I called unto you, and ye would not hear.” He called to His inanimate creatures to punish them, and “they” obeyed. So Elisha tells the woman, whose son he had restored to life, 2 Kings 8:1. “The Lord hath called to the famine, and it shall also come to the land seven years.”

And upon men, - in that the drought was oppressive to man. The prophet may also allude to the other meaning of the word, “waste,” “desolation.” They had left the house of the Lord “waste,” therefore God called for waste, desolation, upon them.