Aggeo 1:9

9 Voi avete riguardato ad assai, ed ecco, ciò si è ridotto a poco; ed avete menato in casa, ed io ho soffiato sopra. Perchè? dice il Signor degli eserciti. Per la mia Casa, che è deserta; laddove ciascun di voi corre per la sua casa.

Aggeo 1:9 Meaning and Commentary

Haggai 1:9

Ye looked for much, and, lo, [it came] to little
They looked for a large harvest, and very promising it was for a while; but in the end it came to little; it was a very small crop, very little was reaped and gathered in: or, "in looking", ye looked "to increase" ^F24; your substance; had raised expectations of making themselves and families by their agriculture, and by their plantations of vines and olives, and by their trade and merchandise; and it dwindled away, and came to little or nothing; their riches, instead of being increased, were diminished: and when ye brought [it] home, I did blow upon it;
when they brought into their barns or houses the produce of their land, labour, and merchandise, which was but little, the Lord blew a blast upon that little, and brought rottenness and worms into it, as Jarchi; so that it was not a blessing to them, but a curse. So the Targum interprets it,

``behold, I sent a curse upon it:''

or, "I blew it away" ^F25; as any light thing, straw or stubble, or thistle down, are blown away with a wind; so easily can the Lord, and sometimes he does, strip men of that little substance they have; riches by his orders make themselves wings, and flee away; or he, by one providence or another, blows them away like chaff before the wind: Why? saith the Lord of hosts;
what was the cause and reason of this? which question is put, not on his own account, who full well knew it; but for their sakes, to whom he speaks, that they might be made sensible of it; and in order to that to introduce what follows, which is an answer to the question: because of mine house that [is] waste;
which they suffered to lie waste, and did not concern themselves about the rebuilding of it: this the Lord resented, and for this reason blasted all their labours: and ye run every man unto his own house;
were very eager, earnest, and diligent, in building, beautifying, and adorning their own houses; taking care of their own domestic affairs; sparing no cost nor pains to promote their own secular interest; running in all haste to do any thing and everything to increase their worldly substance; but sat still, were idle and slothful, careless and negligent, about the house of God and the affairs of it.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F24 (hbrh la) "ad rem augendam", Grotius.
F25 (wb ytxpn) "exsufflo illud", Vatablus; "efflo illud", Junius & Tremellius; "difflo", Piscator; "difflavi", Drusius, Cocceius.

Aggeo 1:9 In-Context

7 Così ha detto il Signore degli eserciti: Ponete mente alle vie vostre.

8 Salite al monte, e adducetene del legname, ed edificate questa Casa; ed io mi compiacerò in essa, e mi glorificherò, ha detto il Signore.

9 Voi avete riguardato ad assai, ed ecco, ciò si è ridotto a poco; ed avete menato in casa, ed io ho soffiato sopra. Perchè? dice il Signor degli eserciti. Per la mia Casa, che è deserta; laddove ciascun di voi corre per la sua casa.

10 Perciò, il cielo è stato serrato sopra voi, per non dar rugiada la terra eziandio ha ristretta la sua rendita.

11 Ed io ho chiamata la secchezza sopra la terra, e sopra i monti, e sopra il frumento, e sopra il mosto, e sopra l’olio, e sopra tutto ciò che la terra produce; e sopra gli uomini, e sopra le bestie, e sopra tutta la fatica delle mani.