Hagai 1:13

1:13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s word to the people: ¹  “I am with you!” says the Lord.

Hagai 2:3

2:3 ‘Who among you survivors saw the former splendor of this temple? ²  How does it look to you now? Isn’t it nothing by comparison?

[1:13]  ¹ tn Heb “Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, said by the message of the Lord to the people.” The Hebrew is highly repetitive; in keeping with contemporary English style this has been simplified in the translation.

[2:3]  ² tn Heb “this house in its earlier splendor”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “in its former glory.”

[2:3]  sn Solomon’s temple was demolished in 586 b.c., 66 years prior to Haggai’s time. There surely would have been some older people who remembered the former splendor of that magnificent structure and who lamented the contrast to the small, unimpressive temple they were building (see Ezra 3:8-13).