Haggai 2:3
Context2:3 ‘Who among you survivors saw the former splendor of this temple? 1 How does it look to you now? Isn’t it nothing by comparison?
Haggai 2:5
Context2:5 ‘Do not fear, because I made a promise to your ancestors when they left Egypt, and my spirit 2 even now testifies to you.’ 3
Haggai 2:15
Context2:15 Now therefore reflect carefully on the recent past, 4 before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. 5
1 tn Heb “this house in its earlier splendor”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “in its former glory.”
sn Solomon’s temple was demolished in 586
2 sn My spirit. It is theologically anachronistic to understand “spirit” here in the NT sense as a reference to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity; nevertheless during this postexilic period the conceptual groundwork was being laid for the doctrine of the Holy Spirit later revealed in the NT.
3 tc The MT of v. 5 reads “with the word which I cut with you when you went out from Egypt and my spirit [which] stands in your midst, do not fear.” BHS proposes emending “with the word” to זֹאת הַבְּרִית (zo’t habbÿrit, “this is the covenant”) at the beginning of the verse. The proposed emendation makes excellent sense and is expected with the verb כָּרַת (karat, “cut” or “make” a covenant), but it has no textual support. Most English versions (including the present translation) therefore follow the MT here.
4 tn Heb “and now set your heart from this day and upward.” The juxtaposition of מָעְלָה (ma’lah, “upward”) with the following מִטֶּרֶם (mitterem, “before”) demands a look to the past. Cf. ASV “consider from this day and backward.”
5 sn Before one stone was laid on another in the