Hageo 1:9

9 Buscáis mucho, y halláis poco; y cuando encerráis en casa, yo lo soplaré. ¿Por qué? Dijo el SEÑOR de los ejércitos. Por cuanto mi Casa está desierta, y cada uno de vosotros corre a su propia casa

Hageo 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Hageo 1:9 In-Context

7 Así dijo el SEÑOR de los ejércitos: Pensad bien sobre vuestros caminos

8 Subid al monte, y traed madera, y edificad la Casa; y pondré en ella mi voluntad, y seré glorificado, dijo el SEÑOR

9 Buscáis mucho, y halláis poco; y cuando encerráis en casa, yo lo soplaré. ¿Por qué? Dijo el SEÑOR de los ejércitos. Por cuanto mi Casa está desierta, y cada uno de vosotros corre a su propia casa

10 Por eso se detuvo la lluvia de los cielos sobre vosotros, y la tierra detuvo sus frutos

11 Y llamé la sequedad sobre esta tierra, y sobre los montes, y sobre el trigo, y sobre el vino, y sobre el aceite, y sobre todo lo que la tierra produce; y sobre los hombres, y sobre las bestias, y sobre todo trabajo de manos