Haggai 2:12
in Haggai 2If a man carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and it touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any other food, does that item become holy?’” “No,” replied the priests.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any food, shall it become holy? And the priests answered and said, No.
KJV
If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.
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This verse in Haggai 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verseIf one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment,.... Or, "carry" it (q); from one place to another in his pockets or bags, which were in the skirts of his garments.
This site's exposition
In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month
on Haggai 2:10-14
A third oracle, three months later, comes as a case put to the priests as the law's own experts: does holy flesh carried in a garment's skirt make bread or wine holy by touching it, and the priests answer no, holiness does not transfer by contact through an intermediary. Does a person unclean by touching a corpse make food unclean by touching it, and the priests answer yes, uncleanness does transfer that way. Haggai draws the ruling onto the nation itself, so is this people, and so is this nation before me, and so is every work of their hands, and that which they offer there is unclean: the people's own defilement, the bench reads, had been spreading to their offerings all along, even the offerings brought toward the unfinished house, and no amount of resumed labor could cleanse by contact what needed its own repentance.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 11 and following). On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius ((Vulg. adds King)), the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts; ask the priests concerning the law, saying: If a man carries holy flesh in the fold of his garment, and touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, shall it become holy?
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, though the garment is thereby so far made a devoted thing as that it is not to be put to common use till it has first been washed in the holy place ( Lev. vi. 27 ), yet it shall by no means transmit a holiness to either meat or drink, so as to make it ever the better to those that use it.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Holy flesh - Part of the sacrifice, legally sanctified, or made holy by the altar on which the whole was sanctified. In the skirt - In the lap of his garment, or in any other cloth, and if this cloth touch any common thing as bread, &c., shall that become legally holy?
In the third he assures Zerubbabel that, as a reward of his pious zeal and activity herein, he should be a favourite of Heaven, and one of the ancestors of Messiah the Prince, whose kingdom should be set up on the ruins of all opposing powers,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
"Holy flesh" (that is, the flesh of a sacrifice, Jer 11:15), indeed, makes holy the "skirt" in which it is carried; but that "skirt" cannot impart its sanctity to any thing beyond, as "bread," &c.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
contaminated flesh flesh of contamination of a carcass as a creeping thing.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Now ask the priests the Torah Perhaps in exile they forgot the laws of sanctified things, and of impurity and purity.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
25 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֵ֣ן׀ | hen | there! | H2005 → | |
| יִשָּׂא־ | yisa'- | he will carry | H5375 → | |
| אִ֨ישׁ | ʾish | someone | H376 → | 1663 times |
| בְּשַׂר־ | besar- | flesh of | H1320 → | |
| קֹ֜דֶשׁ | kodesh | holiness | H6944 → | |
| בִּכְנַ֣ף | bikhnaf | in [the] skirt of | H3671 → | |
| בִּגְד֗וֹ | bigdo | garment his | H899 → | |
| וְנָגַ֣ע | venaga' | and he will touch | H5060 → | |
| בִּ֠כְנָפוֹ | bikhnafo | with skirt his | H3671 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | <to> | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַלֶּ֨חֶם | halechem | <the> bread | H3899 → | |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and <to> | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַנָּזִ֜יד | hanazid | <the> cooked food | H5138 → | |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and <to> | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַיַּ֧יִן | haiyayin | <the> wine | H3196 → | |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and <to> | H413 → | 5510 times |
| שֶׁ֛מֶן | shemen | oil | H8081 → | |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and <to> | H413 → | 5510 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מַאֲכָ֖ל | maakhal | food | H3978 → | |
| הֲיִקְדָּ֑שׁ | hayikdash | ¿ will it become holy | H6942 → | |
| וַיַּעֲנ֧וּ | vaiyaanu | and they answered | H6030 → | 331 times |
| הַכֹּהֲנִ֛ים | hakohanim | the priests | H3548 → | 750 times |
| וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ | vaiyomeru | and they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹֽא׃ | lo' | no | H3808 → | 5168 times |
הֵ֣ן׀there!
henH2005 →
יִשָּׂא־he will carry
yisa'-H5375 →
אִ֨ישׁsomeone
ʾishH376 →1663 times
בְּשַׂר־flesh of
besar-H1320 →
קֹ֜דֶשׁholiness
kodeshH6944 →
בִּכְנַ֣ףin [the] skirt of
bikhnafH3671 →
בִּגְד֗וֹgarment his
bigdoH899 →
וְנָגַ֣עand he will touch
venaga'H5060 →
בִּ֠כְנָפוֹwith skirt his
bikhnafoH3671 →
אֶל־<to>
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַלֶּ֨חֶם<the> bread
halechemH3899 →
וְאֶל־and <to>
veel-H413 →5510 times
הַנָּזִ֜יד<the> cooked food
hanazidH5138 →
וְאֶל־and <to>
veel-H413 →5510 times
הַיַּ֧יִן<the> wine
haiyayinH3196 →
וְאֶל־and <to>
veel-H413 →5510 times
שֶׁ֛מֶןoil
shemenH8081 →
וְאֶל־and <to>
veel-H413 →5510 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
מַאֲכָ֖לfood
maakhalH3978 →
הֲיִקְדָּ֑שׁ¿ will it become holy
hayikdashH6942 →
וַיַּעֲנ֧וּand they answered
vaiyaanuH6030 →331 times
הַכֹּהֲנִ֛יםthe priests
hakohanimH3548 →750 times
וַיֹּאמְר֖וּand they said
vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times
לֹֽא׃no
lo'H3808 →5168 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 23:19You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?
it leads to
- Exodus 29:37
For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will become most holy; whatever touches the altar will be holy.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 30:29
You are to consecrate them so that they will be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 29:37
Through
Exodus 29:37For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will become most holy; whatever touches the altar will be holy.
it leads to
- Exodus 40:10
Anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it shall be most holy.
- Matthew 23:19
You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?
- Exodus 40:10
Through
Ezekiel 44:19When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they are to take off the garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and dress in other clothes…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 46:20
and said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring…
- Leviticus 6:27
Anything that touches its flesh will become holy, and if any of the blood is spattered on a garment, you must wash it in a holy place.
- Leviticus 6:10–11
And the priest shall put on his linen robe and linen undergarments, and he shall remove from the altar the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed and place them beside…
- Ezekiel 46:20
Through
Leviticus 7:6Every male among the priests may eat of it. It must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy.
it leads to
- Leviticus 6:29
Any male among the priests may eat it; it is most holy.
- Leviticus 6:29
Where this verse is studied
About Haggai
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Haggai; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.