Hagai 2:16

2:16 From that time ¹  when one came expecting a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty measures from it, there were only twenty.

Hagai 2:18

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

[2:16]  ¹ tn Heb “from their being,” idiomatic for “from the time they were then,” or “since the time.” Cf. KJV “Since those days were.”

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

[2:18]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “set your heart.” A similar expression occurs in v. 15 and at the beginning of this verse.