Haggai 2:18

‘Think carefully about the past: ¹  from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, ²  to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, ³  think about it. ⁴ 

‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid. Give careful thought:

‘Do consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the LORD was founded, consider:

"On this eighteenth day of December––the day when the foundation of the LORD’s Temple was laid––carefully consider this:

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

And now, give thought; looking on from this day, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the time when the base of the Lord’s house was put in its place, give thought to it.

Consider from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider:

‘Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty–fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid––consider it:

‘Think carefully about the past: ¹  from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, ²  to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, ³  think about it. ⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “set your heart.” A similar expression occurs in v. 15.

² 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.

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “set your heart.” A similar expression occurs in v. 15 and at the beginning of this verse.