to ascend · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
mountain
הָהָ֛רha.Har
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
bring
וַהֲבֵאתֶ֥םva.ha.ve.Tem
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
wood
עֵ֖ץ'etz
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
build
וּבְנ֣וּu.ve.Nu
H1129
to build (literally and figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
house
הַבָּ֑יִתha.Ba.yit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
pleasure
וְאֶרְצֶהve.'er.tzeh-
H7521
to be pleased with · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common singular
glorified
וְאֶכָּבְדָ֖הve.'e.ka.ved
H3513
to be heavy · conjunction + verb, niphal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
saith
אָמַ֥ר'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 132:13-14 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
2 Chronicles 7:16 For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually…
2 Chronicles 2:8-10 Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and,…
Haggai 2:7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.
Exodus 29:43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.
1 Kings 9:3 And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which t…
Ezra 3:7 They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring…
Jonah 3:1-2 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Haggai 1:1-11
It was the complaint of the Jews in Babylon that they saw not their signs, and there was no more prophet (Psa 74:9), which was a just judgment upon them for mocking and misusing the prophets. We read of no prophets they had in their return, as they had in their coming out of Egypt, Hos 12:13. God stirred them up immediately by his Spirit to exert themselves in that escape (Ezr 1:5); for, though God makes use of prophets, he needs them not, he can do his work without them. But the lamp of Old Testament prophecy shall yet make some bright and glorious efforts before it expire; and Haggai is the first that appears under the character of a special messenger from heaven, when the word of the Lord…
Go up to the mountain--Moriah [ROSENMULLER]; Lebanon [HENDERSON]. Rather, generally, the mountains around, now covered with wood, the growth of the long period of the captivity. So Neh 8:15, "Go forth unto the mount," that is, the neighboring hills [MAURER].
wood--Haggai specifies this as being the first necessary; not to the exclusion of other materials. Stones also were doubtless needed. That the old walls were not standing, as the Hebrew interpreters quoted by JEROME state, or the new walls partly built, appears from Hag 2:18, where express mention is made of laying the foundations.
I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified--I will be propitious to suppliants in it (Kg1 8:30…
Go up to the mountain, and bring wood - Go to Lebanon, and get timber. In the second year of the return from the captivity, they had procured cedar trees from Lebanon, and brought them to Joppa, and had hired masons and carpenters from the Tyrians and Sidonians; but that labor had been nearly lost by the long suspension of the building. Ezr 3:7.
John Gill on Haggai 1:8
Go up to the mountain,.... Or, "that mountain" (u); pointing either to Lebanon, to cut down cedars, and bring them from thence for the building of the temple; or Mount Moriah, on which the temple was to be built; and thither carry the wood they fetched from Lebanon, or were brought from thence by the Tyrians:
and bring wood; or, "that ye may bring wood"; from Lebanon, or any other mountain on which wood grew, to Mount Moriah:
and build the house; the temple, whose foundation was already laid, but the superstructure was neglected: now the Lord would have them go on with it immediately, out of hand, with the utmost diligence, alacrity, and vigour; and not desist till the whole building was c…
The Church Fathers
I believe, brothers, that you remarked and committed to memory the title of this psalm. "The conversion," he said, "of Haggai and Zechariah." These prophets were not as yet in existence when these verses were sung.… But both, the one within the year after the other, began to prophesy that which seemed to pertain to the restoration of the temple, as was foretold so long before. … "For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." Whoever therefore converted himself to the work of this building together, and to the hope of a firm and holy edifice, like a living stone from the miserable ruin of this world, understands the title of the psalm, understands "the conversion of Haggai and Zechariah." Let him therefore chant the following verses, not so much with the voice of his tongue as of his life. For the completion of the building will be that ineffable peace of wisdom, the "beginning" of which is the "fear of the Lord." Let him therefore, whom this conversion builds together, begin there.
Neither does he build a sepulchre for himself who dies before the time, for "he is dead while he liveth;" and he hears not the voice of Haggai, that is being interpreted, of the Feaster, for he enters not the Tabernacle of God, "in the voice of praise and thanksgiving, the sound of one feasting." For how can he hear His voice, who sees not His works? If he saw them, he would have heard the Word which has been put in His Hand, rejoicing in His acts, whereby "He knocked and it was opened to Him," and He descended into his soul that He might feed therein upon the food of sincerity and truth. Now because he has not heard, the word of Haggai comes again to hand, and says, Rise up from your "cieled houses" that are weighed down by wickedness, and "go up to the mountain" of the heavenly Scriptures, and "hew wood," the wood of wisdom, the wood of life, the wood of knowledge; and make straight your ways, direct your acts that they may keep their due order which is useful and necessary for building the house of God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Liberality · 1:2-4; — 1:2-4;
Lukewarmness · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Temple, The Second · The Jews encouraged to proceed in building — The Jews encouraged to proceed in building
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Haggai 1:7, 8
7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
7. Sic dicit Iehova exercituum, Ponite cor vestrum super vias vestras;
8. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.
8. Ascendite in montem et afferte lignum, et aedificate domum (vel, hance domum;) et propitius ero in ea (vel, mihi placebit in ea;) et glorificabor, dicit Iehova.
The Prophet now adds, that since the Jews were thus taught by their evils, nothing else remained for them but to prepare themselves without delay for the work of building the Temple; for they were not to defer the time, inasmuch as they were made to know, t…
After this allusion to the visitation of God, the prophet repeats the summons in Hag 1:7, Hag 1:8, to lay to heart their previous conduct, and choose the way that is well-pleasing to God. Hag 1:7. "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Direct your heart upon your ways. Hag 1:8. Go up to the mountains and fetch wood and build the house, and I will take pleasure therein and glorify myself, saith Jehovah." Hâhâr (the mountain) is not any particular mountain, say the temple mountain (Grotius, Maurer, Ros.), or Lebanon (Cocceius, Ewald, etc.); but the article is used generically, and hâhâr is simply the mountain regarded as the locality in which wood chiefly grows (cf. Neh 8:15). Fetching wood for bui…
Now go up into the hills: The stands of trees around Jerusalem were insufficient to meet the demands of the Temple project. Such supplies would have been imported from Lebanon and Syria to the north. • The challenge to rebuild my house underscores the importance of worship in the life of the community and the need for a proper sanctuary so worship of the Lord might take place according to the law. The land would experience blessing and prosperity when the Lord’s Temple—his dwelling place—was rebuilt (2:4).
Rashi on Haggai 1:8
and I will be honored The “heh” [whose numerical value is five] missing from the Masoretic text corresponds to the five items in the First Temple that were not in the Second Temple: 1) the Holy Ark, 2) the Urim and Tummim, 3) the fire that descended from heaven, 4) the Shechinah, and 5) the Holy Spirit, as is stated in Tractate Yoma (21b).