Haggai 2:14
in Haggai 2Then Haggai replied, “So it is with this people and this nation before Me, declares the LORD, and so it is with every work of their hands; whatever they offer there is defiled.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then answered Haggai and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith Jehovah; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.
KJV
Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.
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This verse in Haggai 2
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThen answered Haggai - So is this people - As an unclean man communicates his uncleanness to every thing he touches, so are ye unclean; and whatever ye have hitherto done is polluted in the sight of God. For your neglect of my temple has made you unclean, as if you had contracted legal pollution by touching a dead body.
This site's exposition
On the twenty-fourth day
on Haggai 2:10-14
Holy meat carried “in the fold of his garment” passes no holiness to the food, while one “defiled by contact with a corpse” defiles it. Haggai applies the ruling to the nation, “whatever they offer there is defiled”, so resumed labor cannot cleanse by contact what needs its own repentance.
This site's exposition
So it is with this people and this nation before Me
Haggai now applies the ruling. This people and nation are the defiled man, and all their work and every offering is defiled by the people who bring it. John Wesley holds that the soul must be purified first, so that the offering is pure.
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 Awakening4 voices
So - Polluted persons, touching what is clean, pollute it, so polluted Jews, polluted God's ordinances, while the outward performing of legal duties, left them as unholy in themselves, as they were before: somewhat more then is to be done. The soul is first to be purified, that they and we may offer up a pure offering.
Then answered Haggai, and said,....
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,
Those whose devotions are plausible, but whose conversation is wicked, will find their devotions unable to sanctify their enjoyments, but their wickedness prevailing to pollute them. Note, When we are employed in any good work we should be jealous over ourselves, lest we render it unclean by our corruptions and mismanagements.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2495: “Defiled and Defiling” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
THE Prophet Haggai very wisely drew out from the priests a definite answer to certain questions which he put to them. Then, upon their authority, he could say to the people, "This is what your own priests say and this is what you, yourselves, believe." This was taking them by a kind of sacred guile and it was a powerful means of forcing home the Truth of God to their heart and conscience.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
This all applies to them as they had been, not as they are now that they have begun to obey; the design is to guard them against falling back again. The "there" points to the altar, probably in view of the audience which the prophet addressed.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2495: “Defiled and Defiling” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THE Prophet Haggai very wisely drew out from the priests a definite answer to certain questions which he put to them. Then, upon their authority, he could say to the people, "This is what your own priests say and this is what you, yourselves, believe." This was taking them by a kind of sacred guile and it was a powerful means of forcing home the Truth of God to their heart and conscience. According to the 12th verse, Haggai first put to the priests this question, "If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any food, will it become holy? And the priests answered, and said, No." Here is a man who is holy—I mean, ceremonially holy—and he is carrying in the fold of his garments, part of a holy sacrifice. Now, if he touches anything, will he make it holy by that touch? The priests said, "No." They could not say otherwise. So, if a man is, himself, holy, however holy he may be, can he make another man holy simply by touching him? If he speaks of good things, or does good actions, will it be certain that he will, thereby, affect others by his good words and good works? Oh, no! There does not seem to be that spreading power in holy things that there is in unholy things! At any rate, not in those that are merely ceremonially holy. Here, then, is a man who is, in a legal sense, clean before God and he is carrying a holy thing in the fold of his garment, but he does not, therefore, make that which he touches to be clean or holy. Then the Spirit of God, having by the mouth of the Prophet put the Truth of God in that way, suggested to him to ask the priests another question.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
So is this people Just as you err in this, so do you err in many halachot.
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
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּ֨עַן | vaiyaan | and he answered | H6030 → | 331 times |
| חַגַּ֜י | chagai | Haggai | H2292 → | 11 times |
| וַיֹּ֗אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| כֵּ֣ן | ken | [is] thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| הָֽעָם־ | haom- | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| הַ֠זֶּה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| וְכֵן־ | vekhen- | and [is] thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| הַגּ֨וֹי | hagoy | the nation | H1471 → | 561 times |
| הַזֶּ֤ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| לְפָנַי֙ | lefanai | <to> before me | H6440 → | |
| נְאֻם־ | neum- | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וְכֵ֖ן | vekhen | and [is] thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה | maaseh | [the] work of | H4639 → | |
| יְדֵיהֶ֑ם | yedeihem | hands their | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| וַאֲשֶׁ֥ר | vaasher | and [that] which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יַקְרִ֛יבוּ | yakrivu | they will bring near | H7126 → | |
| שָׁ֖ם | sham | there | H8033 → | |
| טָמֵ֥א | tame' | [is] unclean | H2931 → | |
| הֽוּא׃ | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
וַיַּ֨עַןand he answered
vaiyaanH6030 →331 times
חַגַּ֜יHaggai
chagaiH2292 →11 times
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
כֵּ֣ן[is] thus
kenH3651 →771 times
הָֽעָם־the people
haom-H5971 →1873 times
הַ֠זֶּה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
וְכֵן־and [is] thus
vekhen-H3651 →771 times
הַגּ֨וֹיthe nation
hagoyH1471 →561 times
הַזֶּ֤ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
לְפָנַי֙<to> before me
lefanaiH6440 →
נְאֻם־[the] utterance of
neum-H5002 →376 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וְכֵ֖ןand [is] thus
vekhenH3651 →771 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה[the] work of
maasehH4639 →
יְדֵיהֶ֑םhands their
yedeihemH3027 →1618 times
וַאֲשֶׁ֥רand [that] which
vaasherH834 →5497 times
יַקְרִ֛יבוּthey will bring near
yakrivuH7126 →
שָׁ֖םthere
shamH8033 →
טָמֵ֥א[is] unclean
tame'H2931 →
הֽוּא׃it
hu'H1931 →1879 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
Proverbs 28:9Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is detestable.
it leads to
- Psalms 66:18
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
- 2 Timothy 4:3–4
For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.
- Zechariah 7:11–13
But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
- Proverbs 15:8
The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Psalms 109:7
When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayer be regarded as sin.
- Psalms 66:18
Through
Proverbs 15:8The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
it leads to
- Proverbs 15:29
The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.
- Proverbs 15:29
Through
Titus 1:15To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
it leads to
- Romans 14:14
I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
- Romans 14:20
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block.
- Romans 14:14
Where this verse is studied
About Haggai
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2495: “Defiled and Defiling” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Haggai; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.