Chagai 2:1-23

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Chagai 1 2

2:1 BA SHEVIY'I BE ESRIM VE ECHAD LA CHODESH HAYAH DEVAR YHVH BE YAD CHAGAI HA NAVI LE'MOR

בַּשְּׁבִיעִי בְּעֶשְׂרִים וְאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הָיָה דְּבַר יְהוָה בְּיַד חַגַּי הַנָּבִיא לֵאמֹר

KJ (King James translation): In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying,

BN (BibleNet translation): In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of YHVH came by the hand of Chagai the Prophet, saying...

Just under a month later... though the way this is written is not at all how we would write it today... see Chagai 1:15 where the same form is used.

BE SHEVIY'I: The seventh month by the Babylonian calendar, or by the pre-exile Yehudan? The first month in today's Judaism, the month of Rosh ha Shanah, the new year, is Tishrey, which is the seventh month of the pre-exile calendar. So it matters! Because if it is the Babylonian, then this is the key month for responding to the accusations in the previous chapter, for making Selichah and Mechilah during the first nine days, but then the full Kapparah on the tenth, which is Yom Kippur. The fifteenth would then be Sukot, the harvest festival, ending on the 22nd, the day after Chagai's announcement.

Updated note, some time later: I undertook my work on Chagai first, then Zechar-Yah. In Zechariah 1:7 we are told that "On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shvat..." and we know, because it is still the case today, that the month of Shvat falls in January-February, though it is no longer the eleventh but now the fifth month, because the new year has moved to Tishrey from Nisan. So we can now state with complete confidence that Chagai's seventh month was indeed Tishrey.

2:2 AMAR NA EL ZERU-BAVEL BEN SHALTIY-EL PACHAT YEHUDAH VE EL YEHOSHU'A BEN YEHO-TSADAK HA KOHEN HA GADOL VE EL SHE'ERIT HA AM LE'MOR

אֱמָר נָא אֶל זְרֻבָּבֶל בֶּן שַׁלְתִּיאֵל פַּחַת יְהוּדָה וְאֶל יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן יְהוֹצָדָק הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל וְאֶל שְׁאֵרִית הָעָם לֵאמֹר

KJ: Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,

BN: Please speak to Zeru-Bavel ben Shaltiy-El, governor of Yehudah, and to Yehoshu'a ben Yeho-Tsadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying...

AMAR NA: The one and only occasion in the entire Tanach, probably the entire history of the Cosmos, when the deity says "please" to a human being!

SHALTIY-EL: See my note to Chagai 1:12.

2:3 MI VACHEM HA NISH'AR ASHER RA'AH ET HA BAYIT HA ZEH BICHVODO HA RI'SHON U MAH ATEM RO'IM OTO ATAH HA LO CHAMOHU KE AYIN BE EYNEYCHEM

מִי בָכֶם הַנִּשְׁאָר אֲשֶׁר רָאָה אֶת הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה בִּכְבוֹדוֹ הָרִאשׁוֹן וּמָה אַתֶּם רֹאִים אֹתוֹ עַתָּה הֲלוֹא כָמֹהוּ כְּאַיִן בְּעֵינֵיכֶם

KJ: Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

BN: "Who is there left among you who saw this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes as nothing?..

Chagai 1:14 and 15 had them starting on the work on the 24th day of the sixth month, which was less than a month before this; we have not been told how far they had progressed before the edict of suspension, but apparently not very far, and not very much further now - and with very limited resources too. This then is not so much a criticism by the Prophet, but a spurring to renewed action - and if this is the seventh month as per the Babylonian calendar, then we can assume that they started on the 24th of Elul, worked for just a week, paused for Rosh ha Shanah, may have worked the intermediate days before Yom Kippur, but not on the Shabbat, and maybe three more before Sukot, and here is Chagai doing the end of Sukot sermon, stirring them up to get back on the job now that the Yamim Nora'im are ending.

2:4 VE ATAH CHAZAK ZERU-BAVEL NE'UM YHVH VA CHAZAK YEHOSHU'A BEN YEHO-TSADAK HA KOHEN HA GADOL VA CHAZAK KOL AM HA ARETS NE'UM YHVH VA ASU KI ANI IT'CHEM NE'UM YHVH TSEVA'OT

וְעַתָּה חֲזַק זְרֻבָּבֶל נְאֻם יְהוָה וַחֲזַק יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן יְהוֹצָדָק הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל וַחֲזַק כָּל עַם הָאָרֶץ נְאֻם יְהוָה וַעֲשׂוּ כִּי אֲנִי אִתְּכֶם נְאֻם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת

KJ: Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts:

BN: "But now be strong, Zeru-Bavel", says YHVH, "and be strong, Yehoshu'a ben Yeho-Tsadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land," says YHVH, "and undertake the work (for I am with you)," says YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens ...

CHAZAK: A much-used word in Ezra as well; see my notes there, especially 6:22.

The syntax of the next verse suggests that the last part of this verse is in parenthesis.

2:5 ET HA DAVAR ASHER KARATI IT'CHEM BE TSE'T'CHEM MI MITSRAYIM VE RUCHI OMEDET BETOCH'CHEM AL TIYRA'U

אֶת הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר כָּרַתִּי אִתְּכֶם בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרַיִם וְרוּחִי עֹמֶדֶת בְּתוֹכְכֶם אַל תִּירָאוּ

KJ: According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.

BN: ... "in the agreement that I carved in my covenant with you when you came out of Egypt, and my spirit dwelt among you. Have no fear."

samech break - in Yehudit these are known as a setumah where there is a Samech (ס), and a petuchah where there is a Pey (פ). In the Torah they represent the breaks in the reading of the Law, based on sedarim and perashot (weekly readings are perashot, the breakdown into sections of those weekly readings are sedarim) and it is of course mightily convenient that the same letter of the alphabet serves for both. However, the books that are not in the Torah are not read on a weekly basis, so the breaks are purely sections, paragraphs, chapters.

2:6 KI CHOH AMAR YHVH TSEVA'OT OD ACHAT ME'AT HI VA ANI MAR'ISH ET HA SHAMAYIM VE ET HA ARETS VE ET HA YAM VE ET HE CHARAVAH

כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת עוֹד אַחַת מְעַט הִיא וַאֲנִי מַרְעִישׁ אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ וְאֶת הַיָּם וְאֶת הֶחָרָבָה

KJ: For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

BN: For thus says YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens: "It only happens every once in a while, but I will shake the heavens, and the Earth, and the sea, and the destroyed land...

OD ACHAT ME'AT HI: A very odd piece of phrasing. Literally "once more, few it is".

MAR'ISH: see also HIR'ASHTI in the next verse. The root is RA'ASH, which means "noise", but is regularly used for causing things to shake and tremble (Judges 5:4, Isaiah 13:13 et al).

CHARAVAH: At least the fourth different use of that same root CHARAV - see chapter 1; though I did note at 1:11 that the root means "destruction".

HA ARETS: The KJ treats it as if the text said ADAMAH, which is "earth" as in mud and soil, where this is upper case Earth, as in planet.

2:7 VE HIR'ASHTI ET KOL HA GOYIM U VA'U CHEMDAT KOL HA GOYIM U MIL'ETI ET HA BAYIT HA ZEH KAVOD AMAR YHVH TSEVA'OT

וְהִרְעַשְׁתִּי אֶת כָּל הַגּוֹיִם וּבָאוּ חֶמְדַּת כָּל הַגּוֹיִם וּמִלֵּאתִי אֶת הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה כָּבוֹד אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת

KJ: And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

BN: "and I will shake all the nations; and the desires of all the nations shall come to pass. And I will fill this house with glory," says YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens.

U MIL'ETI: "And I have filled" in the past tense, though the KJ translation seems to make more sense. Why does this not use the Vav Consecutive?

2:8 LI HA KESEPH VE LI HA ZAHAV NE'UM YHVH TSEVA'OT

לִי הַכֶּסֶף וְלִי הַזָּהָב נְאֻם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת

KJ: The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.

BN: "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine," says YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens.


Yes, a very materialistic deity is YHVH Tseva'ot, always demanding the booty, always wanting what's on the moneylenders' tables, always claiming to be purely spiritual. Though admittedly he only wants it for the glorification of the Temple, as per the next verse.

And of course, given that all Creation stems from the gods, Creation being simply the manifestation of the elements, and the gods likewise...

2:9 GADOL YIHEYEH KEVOD HA BAYIT HA ACHARON MIN HA RI'SHON AMAR YHVH TSEVA'OT U VA MAKOM HA ZEH ETEN SHALOM NE'UM YHVH TSEVA'OT

גָּדוֹל יִהְיֶה כְּבוֹד הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה הָאַחֲרוֹן מִן הָרִאשׁוֹן אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת וּבַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה אֶתֵּן שָׁלוֹם נְאֻם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת

KJ: The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

BN: "The glory of this restored house will be greater than its predecessor," says YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens; "and in this place I will establish peace," says YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens.

ACHARON...RISHON: I have to criticise my own translation. AHARON means "last", or "latter", in contrast with RISHON, which means "first" or "former". The implication of the Chagai (definitely implication, not mere inference) is that the restored Temple will now last forever, because YHVH will ensure it. But I know what happened 550 years later, that the Roman soldiers under General Titus looted it for everything of value, and then burned it to the ground. So I do not want to translate it as "last", though it may yet turn out to be so.

pey break

2:10 BE ESRIM VE ARBA'AH LATSHIY'I BISHNAT SHETAYIM LE DARYAVESH HAYAH DEVAR YHVH EL CHAGAI HA NAVI LE'MOR

בְּעֶשְׂרִים וְאַרְבָּעָה לַתְּשִׁיעִי בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתַּיִם לְדָרְיָוֶשׁ הָיָה דְּבַר יְהוָה אֶל חַגַּי הַנָּבִיא לֵאמֹר

KJ: In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

BN: On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Dar-Yavesh, the word of YHVH came to Chagai the prophet, saying...

BE ESRIM...: I commented on the odd syntax of his last date; this time he leaves out the word CHODESH = month. KJ adds it in italics; I have not bothered with the italics.

LATSHIY'I: Two months to the day since his last pronouncement. We shall see if the Yehudim responded positively or not.

Only two chapters to this book, but actually multiple occasions when he addressed the people. This the third. But we also need to cross-check the Zechar-Yah dates, because he was speaking to the people, in much the same manner, at exactly the same time, and I have a suspicion that some of the dates match. If they do, I will note them in the Zechar-Yah, when I get there.

EL CHAGAI: Previously the DEVAR YHVH came BE YAD CHAGAI, which led me to believe that it was a written pronouncement, but which also told us that it came from him; this is definitely coming to him.

And perhaps this is how Prophetcy happens. You begin by putting out some thoughts and ideas that you have come to (you have come to, that way around) in the independence of your mind, and see how people react. Some people love them, some hate them, most, usually, ignore them with indifference. But yours have a definite impact, and things start to happen in the world because of them. Now you are not just a thinker, but an esteemed wise man, a genius, a visionary, and clearly the gods are using you as their messenger. Which you reject, because you are still a humble soul. But your second public statement is even more impactful, and they are inviting you on celebrity stages and showering you with honours, and your ego is buying in. So, for your third statement, these are the words of the deity, which have come to you (that way around now). And if they go on accepting you, you become Mosheh or Mohammed. And if suddenly the impact of your words turns negative for them, they stone you out of town like Yirme-Yah (Jeremiah), or they nail you to a wooden cross.

2:11 KOH AMAR YHVH TSEVA'OT SHE'AL NA ET HA KOHANIM TORAH LEMOR

כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת שְׁאַל נָא אֶת הַכֹּהֲנִים תּוֹרָה לֵאמֹר

KJ: Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

BN: Thus says YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens: "Please ask the Kohanim for a Toraic response, as follows:

SHE'AL NA: Such politeness, again! Yet the clause is actually rather clipped and ungrammatical: "Ask please the Kohanim Torah" would be a literal translation. See also my note to Chagai 1:12.

This is taking place several decades before Ezra returned to Yeru-Shala'im and, inter alia, organised the writing down of the Torah, and probably some parts of the Tanach, in the starting-point of the form in which we now have them. The Yeru-Shala'im to which Chagai and Zeru-Bavel have returned was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE, the Temple destroyed, the city razed. Which leaves open the question: what Torah are the Kohanim going to use to provide these answers? Did they know it by memory, the way the ancient bards knew the epic poems? Did they manage to take parchment copies into exile with them? Have they found the copies that were secreted away for safe-keeping during the siege (we have never been told that there were such, but there were bound to have been; though if they had discovered them, or recovered them, surely that would have been told)? Did they write down what they remembered while they were in Babylon, and bring them back with them - but in those days the writing down of the law was still superstitiously prohibite. Or was it? Or maybe there are no copies anywhere, just incomplete memories, just the memory of customs and traditions, and this will be the spur for Ezra to make the Torah later on. We cannot know.

But we can know that Chagai's method on this occasion is about to be very different from his two previous calls.


2:12 HEN YIS'A ISH BESAR KODESH BICHNAPH BIGDO VE NAG'A BICHNAPHO EL HA LECHEM VE EL HA NAZID VE EL HA YAYIN VE EL SHEMEN VE EL KOL MA'ACHAL HA YIKDASH VA YA'ANU HA KOHANIM VA YOMRU LO

הֵן יִשָּׂא אִישׁ בְּשַׂר קֹדֶשׁ בִּכְנַף בִּגְדוֹ וְנָגַע בִּכְנָפוֹ אֶל הַלֶּחֶם וְאֶל הַנָּזִיד וְאֶל הַיַּיִן וְאֶל שֶׁמֶן וְאֶל כָּל מַאֲכָל הֲיִקְדָּשׁ וַיַּעֲנוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים וַיֹּאמְרוּ לֹא

KJ: If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

BN: "If a man has a morsel of sacrificed meat in the pleat of his bernous, and that bernous comes in contact with unconsecrated bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any food, does that render it holy?" And the Kohanim answered and said, "No".

A most abstrusely esoteric question! And very much in the manner of Talmudic questions from the post Third Temple epoch until today, so it is fascinating to come upon the format quite this early in history (which is to say: pre-Greek influence; because scholars tend to regard that kind of intellectual approach as being a consequence of Hellenism).

2:13 VA YO'MER CHAGAI IM YIG'A TEM'E NEPHESH BE CHOL ELEH HA YITMA' VA YA'ANU HA KOHANIM VA YOMRU YITMA

וַיֹּאמֶר חַגַּי אִם יִגַּע טְמֵא נֶפֶשׁ בְּכָל אֵלֶּה הֲיִטְמָא וַיַּעֲנוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים וַיֹּאמְרוּ יִטְמָא

KJ: Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

BN: To which Chagai said: "If a man who has been rendered unclean through contact with a dead body should touch any of these things, does that render them unclean?" And the Kohanim answered and said, "Unclean".

So the same principal does not work both ways, which is surely an anomaly, an error, even perhaps a hypocricy - this, presumably, Chagai's intention in choosing these questions.

Nor are they the sorts of questions that your regular laymen-turned-Prophet is likely to be sufficiently knowledgeable in the abstruse esoterics of law to be able to ask. So we have also just learned a significant new piece of biographical information about our protagonist.

2:14 VA YA'AN CHAGAI VA YO'MER KEN HA AM HA ZEH VE CHEN HA GOY HA ZEH LEPHANAI NE'UM YHVH VE CHEN KOL MA'ASEH YEDEYHEM VA ASHER YAKRIYVU SHAM TAM'E HU

וַיַּעַן חַגַּי וַיֹּאמֶר כֵּן הָעָם הַזֶּה וְכֵן הַגּוֹי הַזֶּה לְפָנַי נְאֻם יְהוָה וְכֵן כָּל מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיהֶם וַאֲשֶׁר יַקְרִיבוּ שָׁם טָמֵא הוּא

KJ: Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.

BN: To which Chagai answered, saying, "So too this people, and so too this nation before me," says YHVH; "and so too all the work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean...

SHAM: Where is "there"? Work has stopped on the Temple, but perhaps they have set up some sort of temporary altar on the construction site, so that they can at least perform the ceremonies and rituals, even if they can't complete the surrounding building.

2:15 VE ATAH SIYMU NA LEVAVCHEM MIN HA YOM HA ZEH VA MA'LAH MI TEREM SUM EVEN EL EVEN BE HEYCHAL YHVH

וְעַתָּה שִׂימוּ נָא לְבַבְכֶם מִן הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה וָמָעְלָה מִטֶּרֶם שׂוּם אֶבֶן אֶל אֶבֶן בְּהֵיכַל יְהוָה

KJ: And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD:

BN: "So now, I implore you, think back from today into the days gone by, before a single stone was laid upon another stone in the Temple of YHVH...

2:16 MI HEYOTAM BA EL AREMAT ESRIM VE HAYETAH ASARAH BA EL HA YEKEV LACHSOPH CHAMISHIM PURAH VE HAYETAH ESRIM

מִהְיוֹתָם בָּא אֶל עֲרֵמַת עֶשְׂרִים וְהָיְתָה עֲשָׂרָה בָּא אֶל הַיֶּקֶב לַחְשֹׂף חֲמִשִּׁים פּוּרָה וְהָיְתָה עֶשְׂרִים

KJ: Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.

BN: "Throughout that time, when they came to a pile that should have measured twenty, there were only ten; when they came to the wine-press to draw out fifty vessels, there were only twenty...

Chagai is describing the extent of the ruins of the Temple in the first part of this, but the extent of the ruination of personal values and standards in the second part; so the rebuilding of the Temple is not simply a way of proving that the covenant is still held dear, but also a means by which the people can return to faith in practice. Go back to verse 6 of the first chapter, where the failure of the harvest and the economy is directly connected to the failure to build the Temple, properly or otherwise, and to verse 14 of that chapter, where the reward of honey (and the inference of milk) is attached to the doing of the job properly.

2:17 HIKEYTI ET'CHEM BA SHIDAPHON U VA YERAKON U VA BARAD ET KOL MA'ASEH YEDEYCHEM VE EYN ET'CHEM ELAI NE'UM YHVH

הִכֵּיתִי אֶתְכֶם בַּשִּׁדָּפוֹן וּבַיֵּרָקוֹן וּבַבָּרָד אֵת כָּל מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיכֶם וְאֵין אֶתְכֶם אֵלַי נְאֻם יְהוָה

KJ: I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.

BN: "I smote you with blasting winds and mildew, and with hail in all the work of your hands; but still you did not turn to me," says YHVH.

SHIDAPHON: Blasts of the east wind, out of the Nefud and the Hejaz, ripping off the husks of the grain. Cf Genesis 41:23 and 27, which describes the failure of a very different harvest, and Deuteronomy 28:22, which also has the YERAKON and is probably the verse most in Chagai's mind when he says "look back" (and worth looking at the verses that lead up to it, because it is one of the great curses ever cursed!). There are also 1 Kings 8:37 and 2 Kings 19:26, though it is less likely, given the context, that Chagai would have known those texts.

YERAKON: Green stuff! Like the Yerakrak in Leviticus 13:49 and 14:37.

2:18 SIYMU NA LEVAVCHEM MIN HA YOM HA ZEH VA MA'LAH MI YOM ESRIM VE ARBA'AH LA TISHIY'I LE MIN HA YOM ASHER YUSAD HEYCHAL YHVH SIYMU LEVAVCHEM

שִׂימוּ נָא לְבַבְכֶם מִן הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה וָמָעְלָה מִיּוֹם עֶשְׂרִים וְאַרְבָּעָה לַתְּשִׁיעִי לְמִן הַיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר יֻסַּד הֵיכַל יְהוָה שִׂימוּ לְבַבְכֶם

KJ: Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD'S temple was laid, consider it.

BN: "Think back from today into the days gone by, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, to the day on which the foundation of YHVH's temple was laid. Think back on it...

SIYMU NA: The same phrase that he used in verse 15.

MI YOM ESRIM VE ARBA'AH: The answer to the question in verse 10.

ASHER YUSAD : Does this indicate that his sermon was not in fact on that date (see verse 10)? The text says that the word "came to him" on that date; so maybe he delivered it some time afterwards. And when was the day of the laying of the foundation stone? The word LI here tells us to think back from the 24th of Tishrey "to"... but the foundation-stone would have been laid at the start of the first phase of the building, before the edict suspending it, before his own first speech, and he may even be thinking of that more famous foundation-stone, the one that the builders originally rejected but which ended up as the cornerstone  of the entire building - an allusion which should not have troubled the Yehudim, because it was sung regularly as part of Hallel (Psalm 118:22). Either way, he is asking them to go right back to basics and consider what they have, or mostly have not, done since. Speeches at the laying of foundation-stones are usually full of high aspiration and sophisticated intent; so he is asking them to make comparisons. The allusions in these latter verses take us back to the ways in which the followers of Mosheh likewise disappointed YHVH - and look what happened to them!

And, as always with Chagai, the Bloom's Taxonomist of the Biblical world, he throws it back on them, making them think for themselves, hinting but never saying. An educator, not a teacher.

2:19 HA OD HA ZER'A BAMGURAH VE AD HA GEPHEN VE HA TE'ENAH VE HA RIMON VE ETS HA ZAYIT LO NAS'A MIN HA YOM HA ZEH AVARECH

הַעוֹד הַזֶּרַע בַּמְּגוּרָה וְעַד הַגֶּפֶן וְהַתְּאֵנָה וְהָרִמּוֹן וְעֵץ הַזַּיִת לֹא נָשָׂא מִן הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה אֲבָרֵךְ

KJ: Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.

BN: "Is the seed yet in the barn? Only when the vine, and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree have brought forth, only on that day will I bless you."

The seed, the vine, the fig-tree and the pomegranate: all four highly symbolic fruits, ripe with deeper meanings. The seed, any seed, is the core of life itself, created by the male half of the divine fertility couple. The vine produces the holiest of all drinks, the wine of Kiddush, but the process of husbandry is one of constantly clipping the vine so that it runs to fruit, the source of the custom of circumcision, and a second image of male fertility. At the wedding, before it was reduced to a mere glass, the groom stamped on a ripe pomegranate (they still have this custom in contemporary Greece and Lebanon), splattering the seeds on everybody, with the superstition that it would bestow fertility - so a third image of male fertility. And olive-oil, used to anoint the about-to-declared Mashiyach.

samech break

2:20 VAYEHI DEVAR YHVH SHENIT EL CHAGAI BE ESRIM VE ARBA'AH LA CHODESH LE'MOR

וַיְהִי דְבַר יְהוָה שֵׁנִית אֶל חַגַּי בְּעֶשְׂרִים וְאַרְבָּעָה לַחֹדֶשׁ לֵאמֹר

KJ: And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,

BN: And the word of YHVH came to Chagai for a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying,

Twice on the same day? Or the 24th of a different month? This time the word CHODESH is used.

2:21 EMOR EL ZERU-BAVEL PACHAT YEHUDAH LE'MOR ANI MAR'ISH ET HA SHAMAYIM VE ET HA ARETS

אֱמֹר אֶל זְרֻבָּבֶל פַּחַת יְהוּדָה לֵאמֹר אֲנִי מַרְעִישׁ אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ

KJ: Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;

BN: "Speak to Zeru-Bavel, the governor of Yehudah, saying, 'I will shake the heavens and the earth...

EMOR: Grammar of this, and the choice of verb, needs some thought.

MAR'ISH: Didn't he say the same thing earlier?

2:22 VE HAPHACHTI KIS'E MAMLACHUT VE HISHMADETI CHOZEK MAMLACHUT HA GOYIM VE HAPHACHTI MERKAVAH VE ROCHVEYHA VE YARDU SUSIM VE ROCHVEYHEM ISH BE CHEREV ACHIV

וְהָפַכְתִּי כִּסֵּא מַמְלָכוֹת וְהִשְׁמַדְתִּי חֹזֶק מַמְלְכוֹת הַגּוֹיִם וְהָפַכְתִּי מֶרְכָּבָה וְרֹכְבֶיהָ וְיָרְדוּ סוּסִים וְרֹכְבֵיהֶם אִישׁ בְּחֶרֶב אָחִיו

KJ: And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

BN: "'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 chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother...

This surely has to be a deliberate allusion to Mosheh's Song at the Reed Sea (Exodus 15)? It would make sense, after the CHOREV references in chapter 1, and then the curses in verse 17, above. Verse 2 provides the reason for making the allusion, verse 4 gives us the horses and riders, verse 10 echoes the maelstrom promised twice in this chapter... but every verse contains something that would fit Chagai's purpose when he told them to go back to Torah for their answers.

CHEREV: yet a fifth different usage of the root CHARAV.

2:23 BA YOM HA HU NE'UM YHVH TSEVA'OT EKACHACHA ZERU-BAVEL BEN SHE'ALTIY-EL AVDI NE'UM YHVH VE SAMTIYCHA KA CHOTAM KI VECHA VACHARTI NE'UM YHVH TSEVA'OT

בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אֶקָּחֲךָ זְרֻבָּבֶל בֶּן שְׁאַלְתִּיאֵל עַבְדִּי נְאֻם־יְהוָה וְשַׂמְתִּיךָ כַּחוֹתָם כִּי־בְךָ בָחַרְתִּי נְאֻם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת

KJ: In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

BN: "'On that day,' says YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, 'I will take you, Zeru-Bavel, my servant, the son of She'altiy-El,' says YHVH, 'and I will give you a sign; for I have chosen you,' says YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens."

SHE'ALTIY-EL: Reverting to the original spelling in Chagai 1:1.

VACHARTI: Chosen for what? Is this perhaps the anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone for the Second Temple; or Zeru-Bavel's reappointment as governor? The text feels unfinished, as though we are being prepared for some specific events that will be described in the next chapter; but there is no next chapter. The inference that Jewish scholars have always drawn, and probably correctly, is that, once the Temple is properly built and Yehudah established as an independent kingdom, the next phase will be the re-establishment of the Davidic dynasty, the Messianic priest-king who serves, papally so-to-speak, as the representative of the deity on Earth: the Mashiyach, not the Moshi'a. This, however, is not explicitly stated, and that Zeru-Bavel will be the one anointed to that role.

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