Haggai 1:6
in Haggai 1You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
KJV
Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
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This verse in Haggai 1
Commentary
12 notes on this verse(Verse 5, 6) You have sown much and brought in little: you eat but are not satisfied: you drink but are not filled with drink: you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm: and he that earned wages, earned them to put into a bag with holes. All the labor that you have built up your houses and neglected the house of God, has not had a consequence. For you have sown much and gathered little: you cannot say it is a result of famine, because the farmer has ceased to work the land.
This site's exposition
Consider carefully your ways
on Haggai 1:5-6
The LORD calls the people to “Consider carefully your ways”, which in Hebrew is to set the heart on them, the first of two calls. Verse 6 shows why: planting, eating, drinking and clothing alike come to little, and wages go “into a bag pierced through.”
This site's exposition
You have planted much but harvested little
You planted, eat, drink, put on clothes and earn wages, and each labor comes to little. Adam Clarke counts five proverbs in these lines. Matthew Henry observes that the people felt the drought and never asked why it came.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Generally speaking, riches that are not under complete control are the citadels of evil. If the ordinary people look on them covetously, they will never enter the kingdom of heaven, because they are letting themselves become contaminated by the things of this world and are living above themselves in self-indulgence. Those concerned for their salvation should take this as their first principle, that, although the whole of creation is ours to use, the universe is made for the sake of self-sufficiency, which anyone can acquire by a few things.
Thus the priestly ministry is a trade. Hence the prophet says to the children of Israel, "Your innkeepers mix water with their wine." For holy Isaiah is not speaking about the innkeepers who, in the course of their publican ministrations, deceptively mix pure wine with …
The Medieval Church1 voice
And yet, for the most part, such people carefully weigh what is the amount that they give but neglect to consider how much they seize. They count it as a sort of requital but refuse to consider their sins. Let them, therefore, hear what is written: "He that has earned wages put them into a bag with holes." When a bag has holes, the money is indeed seen when it is put in, but it is not seen when it is being lost. They, then, who keep an eye on how much they give, but not on how much they steal, put their wages into a bag with holes because, while piling up [riches], they look to them in the hope that they will be secure but lose them when they are not looking.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
They were sensible of the smart of the judgment, and every one complained of the unseasonable weather, the great losses they sustained in their corn and cattle, and the decay of trade; but they were not sensible of the cause of the judgment, and the ground of God's controversy with them.
Ye have sown much, and bring in little,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The good success of this sermon, appearing in the people's return and close application to that work, wherein the prophet, in God's name, animated and encouraged them, assuring them that God was with them,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Ye have sown much - God will not bless you in any labor of your hands, unless you rebuild his temple and restore his worship. This verse contains a series of proverbs, no less than five in the compass of a few lines.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The events of life are the hieroglyphics in which God records His feelings towards us, the key to which is found in the Bible [MOORE]. wages . . . put . . . into a bag with holes--proverbial for labor and money spent profitlessly (Zec 8:10; compare Isa 55:2; Contrast, spiritually, the "bags that wax not old, the treasure in heaven that faileth not" (Lu 12:33).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Ye have sown much - The prophet expresses the habitualness of these visitations by a vivid present. He marks no time and so expresses the more vividly that it was at all times. It is one continually present evil. “Ye have sown much and there is a bringing in little; there is eating and not to satisfy; there is drinking and not to exhilarate; there is clothing and not to be warm It is not for the one or the other years, as, since the first year of Darius Hystaspis; it is one continued visitation, coordinate with one continued negligence. As long as the sin lasted, so long the punishment. The visitation itself was twofold; impoverished harvests, so as to supply less sustenance; and various indisposition of the frame, so that what would, by God’s appointment in nature, satisfy, gladden, warm, failed of its effect. “And he that laboreth for hire, gaineth himself hire into a bag full of holes” (literally “perforated.”) The labor pictured is not only fruitless, but wearisome and vexing. There is a seeming result of all the labor, something to allure hopes; but immediately it is gone. The pagan assigned a like baffling of hope as one of the punishments of hell , “Better and wiser to seek to be blessed by God, Who bestoweth on us all things. And this will readily come to those who choose to be of the same mind with Him and prefer what is for His glory to their own. For so saith the Saviour Himself to us Mat 6:33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” “He loses good deeds by evil acts, who takes account of his good works, which he hits before his eyes, and forgets the faults which creep in between; or who, after what is good, returns to what is vain and evil” . “Money is seen in the pierced bag, when it is cast in, but when it is lost, it is not seen. […]
The words behind it
19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זְרַעְתֶּ֨ם | zera'tem | you have sown | H2232 → | |
| הַרְבֵּ֜ה | harbeh | much | H7235 → | |
| וְהָבֵ֣א | vehave' | and you have brought | H935 → | 2568 times |
| מְעָ֗ט | meat | little | H4592 → | 101 times |
| אָכ֤וֹל | ʾakhol | you have eaten | H398 → | |
| וְאֵין־ | veein- | and not | H369 → | 789 times |
| לְשָׂבְעָה֙ | lesaveah | to satiety | H7654 → | |
| שָׁת֣וֹ | shato | you have drunk | H8354 → | |
| וְאֵין־ | veein- | and not | H369 → | 789 times |
| לְשָׁכְרָ֔ה | leshakherah | to become drunk | H7937 → | |
| לָב֖וֹשׁ | lavoosh | you have dressed | H3847 → | |
| וְאֵין־ | veein- | and not | H369 → | 789 times |
| לְחֹ֣ם | lechom | to be warm | H2552 → | |
| ל֑וֹ | lo | to him | ||
| וְהַ֨מִּשְׂתַּכֵּ֔ר | vehammistaker | and the [one who] earns wages | H7936 → | |
| מִשְׂתַּכֵּ֖ר | mistaker | [is] earning wages | H7936 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| צְר֥וֹר | tzeror | a bag | H6872 → | |
| נָקֽוּב׃ פ | nakuv | pierced | H5344 → |
זְרַעְתֶּ֨םyou have sown
zera'temH2232 →
הַרְבֵּ֜הmuch
harbehH7235 →
וְהָבֵ֣אand you have brought
vehave'H935 →2568 times
מְעָ֗טlittle
meatH4592 →101 times
אָכ֤וֹלyou have eaten
ʾakholH398 →
וְאֵין־and not
veein-H369 →789 times
לְשָׂבְעָה֙to satiety
lesaveahH7654 →
שָׁת֣וֹyou have drunk
shatoH8354 →
וְאֵין־and not
veein-H369 →789 times
לְשָׁכְרָ֔הto become drunk
leshakherahH7937 →
לָב֖וֹשׁyou have dressed
lavooshH3847 →
וְאֵין־and not
veein-H369 →789 times
לְחֹ֣םto be warm
lechomH2552 →
ל֑וֹto him
lo
וְהַ֨מִּשְׂתַּכֵּ֔רand the [one who] earns wages
vehammistakerH7936 →
מִשְׂתַּכֵּ֖ר[is] earning wages
mistakerH7936 →
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
צְר֥וֹרa bag
tzerorH6872 →
נָקֽוּב׃ פpierced
nakuvH5344 →
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
Haggai 1:9You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you…
it leads to
- Malachi 2:2
If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Haggai 1:4
“Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
- Revelation 3:19
Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
- Haggai 2:16–17
from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.
- Psalms 77:5–10
I considered the days of old, the years long in the past.
- Malachi 2:2
Through
Hosea 4:10They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply. For they have stopped obeying the LORD.
it leads to
- Micah 6:14
You will eat but not be satisfied, and your hunger will remain with you. What you acquire, you will not preserve; and what you save, I will give to the sword.
- Leviticus 26:26
When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
- Micah 6:14
Through
Haggai 2:16from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.
it leads to
- Proverbs 3:9–10
Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest;
- Proverbs 3:9–10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Haggai
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 2; Gregory the Dialogist, PASTORAL CARE 3:21; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Haggai; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Maximus of Turin, SERMON 28:2.