1. In the second year of King Darius. This is 520 B.C.E. Small groups of exiles have returned, under the initial authorization of Cyrus, to the kingdom of Judah, now the Persian province of Yehud. As Haggai immediately makes clear, little progress as yet has been made in rebuilding the Temple.

Zerubbabel . . . the prefect . . . Joshua . . . the high priest. These are the principal secular authority and the principal religious authority, respectively. Haggai’s mission, unlike that of the earlier prophets, is to the leaders, not to the people, and only through the leaders to the general populace.

2. The time has not come, the time for rebuilding. The Hebrew syntax is somewhat distorted, and similar problems will occur as the book progresses.

6. You have sown much and brought in little. The comprehensive catalogue initiated by these words suggests that these are metaphorical assertions to the following effect: whatever you have done has been futile and has given you no satisfaction. Nevertheless, in the background of these assertions are the dire material circumstances of the returned exiles at this moment.

8. Go up to the mountain and bring timber. Solomon’s temple was built with fine cedarwood imported from Lebanon. In the present reduced circumstances, such luxurious materials are not an option, so the people are asked to cut down trees from a local mountain.

9. I blew it away. The intention behind the choice of this verb is unclear. It is the verb generally used for blowing on a fire, as with a bellows.

11. I called forth a drought upon the land. The failure to rebuild the Temple is conceived as a collective sin that brings disaster upon the land, in a way analogous to the presence of Oedipus, the incestuous parricide, bringing a plague on Thebes.

13. the LORD’s messenger. Although this is basically how the role of the prophet is conceived, the use of the term is rare. It will, however, be picked up as the fictive name of the prophet Malachi, “my messenger.”

14. roused the spirit. This is a different formulation from the “descent” of the spirit on prophets and judges. It suggests the instilling of motivation and morale.

15a. on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. This is when they begin work on the Temple. The second half of this brief verse actually belongs at the beginning of the next chapter, where it has been moved in this translation, and which explains why this chapter ends with a comma.