Haggai 1 · Verse 4

Haggai 1:4

Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
Haggai 1:4, King James Version

Haggai 1:4 in other translations

BSB“Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
WEB“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?
ASVIs it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste?
YLTIs it time for you--you! To dwell in your covered houses, And this house to lie waste?
DARBYIs it time for you that ye should dwell in your wainscoted houses, while this house lieth waste?
BBEIs it a time for you to be living in roofed houses while this house is a waste?
WebsterIs it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?

What does Haggai 1:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. 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 well as the ceilings; furnished not only with comfort but luxury, in sad contrast to God's house not merely unadorned, but the very walls not raised above the foundations. How different David's feelings (2Sa 7:2)!

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 Is 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Haggai 1:1-11

Observe the sin of the Jews, after their return from captivity in Babylon. Those employed for God may be driven from their work by a storm, yet they must go back to it. They did not say that they would not build a temple, but, Not yet. Thus men do not say they will never repent and reform, and be religious, but, Not yet. And so the great business we were sent into the world to do, is not done. There is a proneness…

Read the full comment on Haggai 1:1-11 →

Haggai 1:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הַעֵ֤תha.'Et¿ [does] a timeH6256
לָכֶם֙la.Khem[belong] to you
אַתֶּ֔ם'a.TemyouH859
לָשֶׁ֖בֶתla.She.vetto dwellH3427
בְּבָתֵּיכֶ֣םbe.va.tei.Khemin houses yourH1004
סְפוּנִ֑יםse.fu.NimcoveredH5603
וְהַבַּ֥יִתve.ha.Ba.yitand the houseH1004
הַזֶּ֖הha.Zeh<the> thisH2088
חָרֵֽב\׃cha.Rev[is] desolateH2720

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Haggai 1:4

  • 2 Samuel 7:2

    That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.

  • Psalms 132:3-5

    Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, Until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.

  • Philippians 2:21

    For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.

  • Haggai 1:9

    Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.

  • Matthew 6:33

    But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

  • Lamentations 4:1

    How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.

  • Jeremiah 52:13

    And burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:

  • Daniel 9:17-18

    Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.

  • Micah 3:12

    Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

  • Jeremiah 33:10

    Thus saith the Lord; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,

  • Lamentations 2:7

    The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.

  • Jeremiah 26:18

    Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
to.
2Sa 7:2; Ps 132:3-5; Mt 6:33; Php 2:21
and.
Ps 74:7; 102:14; Jer 26:6,18; 52:13; La 2:7; 4:1; Eze 24:21
Da 9:17,18,26,27; Mic 3:12; Mt 24:1,2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Haggai 1:3

    Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,

  • Haggai 1:4

    Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

  • Haggai 1:5

    Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

Read all of Haggai 1

Haggai 1:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
¿Es para vosotros tiempo, para vosotros, de morar en vuestras casas enmaderadas, y esta casa está desierta?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Est-ce le temps pour vous d’habiter dans vos maisons lambrissées, tandis que cette maison est dévastée?
German
Elberfelder 1871
Ist es für euch selbst Zeit, in euren getäfelten Häusern zu wohnen, während dieses Haus wüst liegt?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Numquid tempus vobis est ut habitetis in domibus laqueatis, et domus ista deserta?