Haggai 2:17

17 I hit you with drought and blight and hail. Everything you were doing got hit. But it didn't seem to faze you. You continued to ignore me.' God's Decree.

Haggai 2:17 Meaning and Commentary

Haggai 2:17

I smote you with blasting
That is, their fields and vineyards, with burning winds, which consumed them; with blights by east winds: this shows the reason of their disappointment, and that it was from the Lord, and for their sins, by way of chastisement and correction: and with mildew;
a kind of clammy dew, which corrupts and destroys the fruits of the earth; and is a kind of jaundice to them, as the word signifies; see ( Amos 4:9 ) : and with hail;
which battered down the corn and the vines, and broke them to pieces; see ( Exodus 9:25 ) : in all the labours of your hands;
in the corn they sowed, and in the vines they planted: yet ye [turned] not to me, saith the Lord;
did not consider their evil ways as the cause of all this; nor repent of them, and turn from them to the Lord; to his worship, as the Targum; or to the building of his house, the thing chiefly complained of. Afflictions, unless sanctified, have no effect upon men to turn them from their sins to the Lord.

Haggai 2:17 In-Context

15 "'Think back. Before you set out to lay the first foundation stones for the rebuilding of my Temple,

16 how did it go with you? Isn't it true that your foot-dragging, halfhearted efforts at rebuilding the Temple of God were reflected in a sluggish, halfway return on your crops - half the grain you were used to getting, half the wine?

17 I hit you with drought and blight and hail. Everything you were doing got hit. But it didn't seem to faze you. You continued to ignore me.' God's Decree.

18 "'Now think ahead from this same date - this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Think ahead from when the Temple rebuilding was launched.

19 Has anything in your fields - vine, fig tree, pomegranate, olive tree - failed to flourish? From now on you can count on a blessing.'"