Hagai 2:4

2:4 Even so, take heart, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord. ‘Take heart, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and ¹  all you citizens of the land,’ ²  says the Lord, ‘and begin to work. For I am with you,’ says the Lord who rules over all.

Hagai 2:18

2:18 ‘Think carefully about the past: ³  from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, ⁴  to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, ⁵  think about it. ⁶ 

[2:4]  ¹ tn Heb “and take heart.” Although emphatic, the repetition of the verb is redundant in contemporary English style and has been left untranslated.

[2:4]  ² tn Heb “the people of the land” (עַם הָאָרֶץ, ’am ha’arets); this is a technical term referring to free citizens as opposed to slaves.

[2:18]  ³ tn Heb “set your heart.” A similar expression occurs in v. 15.

[2:18]  ⁴ sn The twenty-fourth day of the ninth month was Kislev 24 or December 18, 520. See v. 10. Here the reference is to “today,” the day the oracle is being delivered.

[2:18]  ⁵ sn The day work…was resumed. This does not refer to the initial founding of the Jerusalem temple in 536 b.c. but to the renewal of construction three months earlier (see 1:15). This is clear from the situation described in v. 19 which accords with the food scarcities of that time already detailed in Hag 1:10-11.

[2:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “set your heart.” A similar expression occurs in v. 15 and at the beginning of this verse.