unfoldingWord® Translation Questions
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| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh was by the hand of Haggai the prophet to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and to the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak, saying, | The prophet Haggai received a message from Yahweh in the second year after Darius had become king of Persia. Haggai received this message on the first day of the sixth month of that year. He told it to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel. Haggai also told the message to the high priest, Joshua the son of Jehozadak. He said, |
The word was in the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month.
The word was to Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest.
| ULT | UST |
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| “Thus says Yahweh of Armies, saying: ‘This people, they say, “The time has not come to rebuild the house of Yahweh.”’” | “Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, says this: ‘The people {of Judah} are saying that it is not yet the right time for them to rebuild my temple.’” |
He claimed that they said the time had not come to rebuild Yahweh’s house.
| ULT | UST |
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| Then the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying, | Yahweh then told the prophet Haggai to tell the people this: |
| ULT | UST |
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| “{Is it} a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house {is} desolate? | “It is not right for you to live in comfortable houses while you have still not repaired Yahweh’s temple! |
Yahweh’s house was desolate.
| ULT | UST |
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| So now, thus says Yahweh of Armies: ‘Set your heart upon your ways! | So this is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is telling you: ‘Think about what you are doing! |
| ULT | UST |
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| You have sown much, but you have brought in little. You eat, but not to satiety. You drink, but not {enough} to become drunk. One wears clothes, but he does not warm himself. And the wage earner earns wages into a punctured bag!’ | You are planting many seeds, but you are not harvesting many crops. You eat food, but you never get enough to eat. You drink wine, but you never get enough to satisfy you. You still have clothes to wear, but they are so worn-out that they no longer keep you warm. You earn money, but it is not enough to pay your expenses.’ |
| ULT | UST |
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| Thus says Yahweh of Armies: ‘Set your heart upon your ways! | So this is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is telling you: ‘Think about what you should do differently! |
| ULT | UST |
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| Go up {to} the mountain and bring timber and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,’ says Yahweh. | Go up into the hills and cut down trees! Bring the timber from them here to Jerusalem and rebuild my temple! This will honor me, and I will be proud of my temple again.’ That is what Yahweh is telling you. |
Yahweh commanded the people to go up to the mountain and bring timber and build his house.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘You looked for much, but behold, little! And you brought {it} home, but I blew upon it! Because of what?’—the declaration of Yahweh of Armies. ‘Because of my house, that it {is} desolate, but you are running, a man to his house. | Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is also telling you, ‘There is a reason why you have not grown many crops even though you have planted many seeds. The reason is that I kept the crops from growing. I did that because you have built comfortable homes for yourselves, but you have not repaired my temple. |
Yahweh blew it away because his house was desolate but each person was running to his own house.
| ULT | UST |
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| Therefore the heavens above you refrain from dew and the earth withholds its produce. | Because you were not repairing my temple, I kept the crops from growing by making it so dry that no rain fell from the sky and there was not even any moisture on the ground in the mornings. |
| ULT | UST |
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| And I have called for desolation upon the land and upon the mountains and upon the grain and upon the new wine and upon the oil and upon what the ground produces and upon the man and upon the beast and upon all the labor of {your} hands!’” | I have kept the plants from growing in the fields and on the mountains. I have kept your wheat and barley from growing. I have kept your vines from producing grapes. I have kept your olive trees from producing olives. Even though you worked very hard, you were not able to grow enough food. As a result, both people and animals have not had enough to eat.’” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all of the remnant of the people listened to the voice of Yahweh their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet, because Yahweh their God had sent him and the people feared the face of Yahweh. | {The governor of Judah,} Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, knew that Yahweh their God had told the prophet Haggai to speak this message. The high priest, Joshua the son of Jehozadak, also knew this. The rest of the people who had returned to Judah from exile in Babylon also knew this. And they all respected Yahweh. So they all obeyed the message that Yahweh their God had spoken. |
They all listened to Yahweh’s voice and Haggai’s words because Yahweh had sent him and they feared the face of Yahweh.
| ULT | UST |
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| Then Haggai, the messenger of Yahweh, spoke the message of Yahweh to the people, saying, “‘I {am} with you!’—the declaration of Yahweh.” | {Yahweh was pleased that the people had obeyed him. So} Yahweh gave Haggai, his messenger, another message to speak to the people. Haggai said, “Yahweh is telling you, ‘I am with you!’” |
Yahweh sent a message to them through Haggai to tell them, “I am with you!”
| ULT | UST |
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| And Yahweh awakened the spirit of the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all of the remnant of the people, and they came and did the work on the house of Yahweh of Armies, their God, | This message from Yahweh made the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, want to rebuild the temple. It also made the high priest, Joshua the son of Jehozadak, want to rebuild the temple. It also made the rest of the people want to rebuild the temple. So they all gathered together and started rebuilding the temple of Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, their God. |
Yahweh awakened their spirits on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.
| ULT | UST |
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| on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king, | They started the work on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia. |
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| in the seventh, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of Yahweh was by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying, | Yahweh gave another message to the prophet Haggai on the twenty-first day of the seventh month {of Darius’ second year as king of Persia}. Yahweh told Haggai, |
The word was in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month.
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| “Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, | “I want you to ask a question to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and to the high priest, Joshua the son of Jehozadak, and to the rest of the people. Ask them, |
| ULT | UST |
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| ‘Who is the one left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How are you seeing it now? Compared with that, {is it} not like nothing in your eyes? | ‘Is there still anyone among you who remembers how glorious the temple used to look? If so, do you think that the temple looks glorious now? You must agree that it does not look very glorious at all.’” |
Yahweh declared that they should be strong and work because he was with them.
| ULT | UST |
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| But now, be strong, Zerubbabel!’—the declaration of Yahweh—‘and be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, you high priest, and be strong, all people of the land!’—the declaration of Yahweh—‘and work, for I {am} with you!’—the declaration of Yahweh of Armies. | {But after Haggai had asked those questions, he said,} “Yahweh is telling you, Zerubbabel, ‘Now do not be discouraged!’ Yahweh is also telling you high priest, Joshua the son of Jehozadak, and all the Jewish people, ‘Do not be discouraged!’ Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is telling you, ‘Repair the temple, because I am with you {to help you}! |
| ULT | UST |
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| ‘The word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit remains in your midst. Do not fear!’ | That is what I promised your ancestors when I brought them out of slavery in Egypt and made a covenant with them. {And I am still keeping that promise now, since} my Spirit is living among you. So do not be afraid {of the people who are trying to keep you from rebuilding my temple}!’ |
Yahweh told them not to fear.
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| For thus says Yahweh of Armies: ‘Yet once, it {will be} a little {while}, and I {will be} shaking the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land! | Do not be afraid, because Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is telling you, ‘Soon it will be as if I am shaking the sky and the earth, the sea and the land. |
People would come with the treasure of all the nations and Yahweh would fill his house with glory.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I will shake all of the nations, and they will come {with} the treasure of all of the nations, and I will fill this house {with} glory,’ says Yahweh of Armies. | It will seem that way because I will be making the other nations respect you. Then those people will bring their treasures to this temple, and I will make it very glorious again.’ That is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is telling you. |
| ULT | UST |
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| ‘The silver is mine, and the gold is mine’—the declaration of Yahweh of Armies. | Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, says, ‘The silver and gold that the people of other nations have really belong to me.’ |
| ULT | UST |
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| ‘The latter glory of this house {will be} greater than the former,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and in this place I will give peace’—the declaration of Yahweh of Armies.” | Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, says, ‘The temple will be even more glorious in the future than it was in the past.’ Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, also says, ‘I will protect the temple from people who would want to destroy it.’” |
| ULT | UST |
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| On the twenty-fourth of the ninth, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh was to Haggai the prophet, saying, | Yahweh spoke another message to the prophet Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of Darius’ second year as king of Persia. Yahweh told Haggai, |
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| “Thus says Yahweh of Armies: ‘Now ask the priests {about} the law, saying, | “This is what I, Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, am telling you to do. Ask the priests a question about what Moses directed in his instructions. Say, |
According to the priests, that other food does not become holy.
| ULT | UST |
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| “If a man carries holy flesh in the fold of his garment and he touches with his fold upon bread or upon stew or upon wine or upon oil or upon any food, does it become holy?”’” And the priests answered and said, “No.” | ‘Suppose a priest takes {from the altar} some meat that a person has offered to Yahweh. And suppose the priest carries the meat within his robe. If his robe touches some bread or stew or wine or olive oil or any other food, does that food become like food that someone has offered to Yahweh?’” When Haggai asked the priests this question, they replied, “No, it does not.” |
| ULT | UST |
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| Then Haggai said, “If the unclean by a person touches any of these, will it be unclean?” And the priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.” | Then Haggai asked the priests this question: “Suppose someone becomes unclean by touching a dead body. If this unclean person then touches any food, does that food also become unclean?” The priests replied, “Yes, that food does become unclean.” |
According to the priests, that food becomes unclean.
| ULT | UST |
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| And Haggai answered and said, “‘Thus {is} this people and thus {is} this nation to my face!’—the declaration of Yahweh—‘and thus {is} every work of their hands, and what they offer there, it {is} unclean! | Then Haggai said, “Yahweh is telling you this: ‘I consider you Jewish people to be unclean as well! And since you are unclean, the crops that you grow and the animals that you raise are also unclean. And so you cannot offer those unclean crops or the unclean meat from those animals on the altar at the temple. |
Yahweh considered those sacrifices to be as unclean as food that was touched by someone who was unclean through contact with a dead body.
| ULT | UST |
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| And now, do set your hearts from before until this day, from before the placing of stone upon stone in the temple of Yahweh. | So now think about what has been happening to you during this whole time that you have not been rebuilding my temple. |
| ULT | UST |
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| From their being, one came to a heap of twenty but there were ten; one came to a vat to draw out fifty {from} the press but there were twenty. | During that time, when you thought you could take 20 measures of grain from a heap, you found that there were only 10 measures in the heap. When you thought you could draw 50 measures of wine out of a wine vat, you found that there were only 20 measures in the vat. |
The people would find only ten measures of grain in a heap where they thought there would be twenty measures.
| ULT | UST |
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| I struck you with blight and with mildew and with hail, all of the work of your hands, but it was not you to me’—the declaration of Yahweh. | I caused blight, mildew, and hail to destroy all the crops that you worked so hard to raise. Even so, you did not do what I wanted you to do and rebuild my temple.’ This is what Yahweh is saying to you. |
No, the people did not obey Yahweh.
| ULT | UST |
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| ‘Now set your hearts from before until this day, from the day that the temple of Yahweh was founded until this twenty-fourth day of the ninth. Set your hearts! | Think about what has been happening to you during the whole time between when you laid the foundation of my temple {when you first returned from exile} until this day, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Yes, think about that! |
They were to think back to the time when the temple of Yahweh was founded.
| ULT | UST |
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| {Is} the seed yet in the storehouse? And the vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate tree and the olive tree have not yet produced! From this day I will bless {you}!’” | You have no grain left in your barns. Your grapevines have not been producing grapes. Your fig trees have not been producing figs. Your pomegranate trees have not been producing pomegranates. Your olive trees have not been producing olives. But from now on, I will bless you {with an abundance of crops}!” |
Yahweh promised that from that day forward he would bless the people.
| ULT | UST |
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| And the word of Yahweh was to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth of the month, saying, | Yahweh then gave a second message to Haggai on that same day. He said, |
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| “Speak to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, saying, ‘I {am} shaking the heavens and the earth. | “Tell Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, this for me: ‘It is going to be as if I am shaking the sky and the earth. |
Yahweh said that he would overthrow the throne of kingdoms and destroy their strength. The armies of the nations would destroy one another’s chariots and horses and their riders.
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| And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations! And I will overthrow the chariot and its rider, and the horses and their riders will fall, a man by the sword of his brother. | It will seem that way because I am going to stop kingdoms from ruling over other kingdoms. I am going to make strong nations weak. I am going to do this by making the nations fight wars against each other. When they do, they will completely destroy one another’s armies.’ |
| ULT | UST |
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| On that day’—the declaration of Yahweh of Armies—‘I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant’—the declaration of Yahweh—‘and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you’—the declaration of Yahweh of Armies!” | Tell Zerubbabel for me, Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, ‘After I destroy the armies of the other kingdoms, I am going to make you powerful, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant.’ Tell him for me, Yahweh, ‘Just as a king seals his orders with a signet ring, so I will use you to accomplish my purposes.’ Tell him for me, Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, ‘I am going to do this because I have chosen you!’” |
Yahweh told Zerubbabel that he would make him like a signet ring because Yahweh had chosen him.