Haggai 1:6

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

have: Haggai 1:9, Haggai 2:16, Leviticus 26:20, Deuteronomy 28:38-40, 2 Samuel 21:1, Psalms 107:34, Isaiah 5:10, Jeremiah 14:4, Hosea 4:10, Hosea 8:7, Joel 1:10-13, Amos 4:6-9, Micah 6:14, Micah 6:15, Zechariah 8:10, Malachi 2:2, Malachi 3:9-11

eat: Leviticus 26:26, 1 Kings 17:12, Job 20:22, Jeremiah 44:18, Ezekiel 4:16, Ezekiel 4:17

with holes: Heb. pierced through, Job 20:28, Zechariah 5:4

Reciprocal: Leviticus 26:16 - and ye shall Deuteronomy 11:15 - eat and be full Deuteronomy 28:17 - General Psalms 107:37 - which may Psalms 132:15 - bless her provision Proverbs 11:24 - but Ecclesiastes 11:6 - thou knowest Isaiah 65:23 - shall Jeremiah 12:13 - sown Daniel 1:15 - their Hosea 2:9 - take Amos 4:8 - but Amos 5:11 - ye have built Matthew 14:20 - were Luke 12:33 - provide

Cross-References

Genesis 1:5
God called the light "day," and the darkness He called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day.

Genesis 1:6
And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters."

Genesis 1:7
So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.

Genesis 1:8
God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day.

Genesis 1:11
Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind." And it was so.

Genesis 1:12
The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

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 1:20
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 1:22
Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ye have sown much, and bring in little,.... Contrary to what is usually done; the seed that is sown is but little, in, comparison of what springs up, is reaped, and gathered into the barn; which commonly affords seed again to the sower, and bread to the eater; but here much land was tilled, and a great deal of seed was sown in it; but a thin crop was produced, little was gathered into the barn; a blessing being withheld from the earth, and from their labours, because of their sins, which they would do well to think of, and the cause of it:

ye eat, but ye have not enough; what the earth did yield, and which they gathered in, they made food of, and ate of it; yet it was not sufficient to satisfy their hunger; or it was not blessed for their nourishment; or they had a canine appetite in judgment given them, so that they were never satisfied: or, it was "not for fulness" q; they were not filled with it to satisfaction, but still craved more; and yet, it may be, durst not eat more, if they had it, lest they should want the next day:

ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; or, "not to inebriation" r; it was not sufficient to quench their thirst, much less to make them merry and; cheerful: the vines produced such a small quantity of grapes, and those so little wine, that they had not enough to drink, at least could not drink freely, but sparingly, lest it should be all spent before another vintage came:

ye clothe you, but there is none warm; or, "but" it is "not for heat to him" s; to anyone; so rigorous the season, so extreme the cold, that his clothes will not keep him warm, even though the climate was, naturally and usually hot:

and he that earneth wages earneth wages [to put it] into a bag with holes; or, "pierced through" t; if a man is hired as a labourer, and gets much wages, and brings it home, and lays it up; or if he trades and merchandises, and has great gains by it, and thinks to amass great riches; yet, what through losses, and the dreariness of provisions, and the many ways he has for the spending of his money, it is as if he put it into a bag full of holes, and it ran through as fast as put into it; signifying hereby that all his pains and labour were in vain.

q לשבעה "ad satietatem", Calvin, De Dieu; "ad saturitatem", Munster. r לשכרה "ad ebrietatem", Tigurine version, Vatablus, Calvin, De Dieu. s ואין לחם לו "et non est ad calorem ei", De Dieu; "sed nemo ita ut sit calor ipsi", Junius Tremellius, Piscator "ut calefiat ei", Burkius. t נקוב "pertusum", V. L. Munster, Tigurine version, Vatablus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator "perforatum", Munster, Varenius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ye have sown much - The prophet expresses the habitualness of these visitations by a vivid present. He marks no time and so expresses the more vividly that it was at all times. It is one continually present evil. “Ye have sown much and there is a bringing in little; there is eating and not to satisfy; there is drinking and not to exhilarate; there is clothing and not to be warm It is not for the one or the other years, as, since the first year of Darius Hystaspis; it is one continued visitation, coordinate with one continued negligence. As long as the sin lasted, so long the punishment. The visitation itself was twofold; impoverished harvests, so as to supply less sustenance; and various indisposition of the frame, so that what would, by God’s appointment in nature, satisfy, gladden, warm, failed of its effect. “And he that laboreth for hire, gaineth himself hire into a bag full of holes” (literally “perforated.”) The labor pictured is not only fruitless, but wearisome and vexing. There is a seeming result of all the labor, something to allure hopes; but immediately it is gone. The pagan assigned a like baffling of hope as one of the punishments of hell , “Better and wiser to seek to be blessed by God, Who bestoweth on us all things. And this will readily come to those who choose to be of the same mind with Him and prefer what is for His glory to their own. For so saith the Saviour Himself to us Matthew 6:33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

“He loses good deeds by evil acts, who takes account of his good works, which he hits before his eyes, and forgets the faults which creep in between; or who, after what is good, returns to what is vain and evil” . “Money is seen in the pierced bag, when it is cast in, but when it is lost, it is not seen. They then who look how much they give, but do not weigh how much they gain wrongly, cast their rewards into a pierced bag. Looking to the Hope of their confidence they bring them together; not looking, they lose them.”

“They lose the fruit of their labor, by not persevering to the end, or by seeking human praise, or by vain glory within, not keeping spiritual riches under the guardianship of humility. Such are vain and unprofitable men, of whom the Saviour saith, Matthew 6:2. ‘Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. ‘“

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 6. Ye have sown much — God will not bless you in any labour of your hands, unless you rebuild his temple and restore his worship. This verse contains a series of proverbs; no less than five in the compass of a few lines.