Haggai 1:5
What does Haggai 1:5 mean?
A plain-English look at Haggai 1:5 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Haggai 1:5 means
God commands them to consider their ways—to set their hearts upon their path. It is a call to honest reflection, not quick defensiveness. They are to weigh how their choices align with God’s priorities and whether their outcomes reveal His favor. Reflection is part of repentance; without stopping to think, they will keep repeating the same patterns. The Lord’s command implies they have not been paying attention to what their decisions are producing. He wants them to trace the connection between spiritual negligence and practical frustration. This thoughtful turning of the heart is grace itself: God invites them to step back, observe, and be led toward wiser, obedient action that honors His name and restores blessing.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Now therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Now therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949For this cause the Lord of armies has said, Give thought to your ways.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And now, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Set your heart to your ways.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And now thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts to consider your ways.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And now thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways.
Context
Following the convicting question of verse 4, this verse issues the first of two identical calls to self-examination. It sets the platform for God’s specific evidence in verse 6 of fruitless toil and thin satisfaction. The command to consider will be repeated in verse 7, reinforcing the need to truly ponder before acting. The sequence—expose priorities, consider, review consequences—guides the reader toward the practical instruction that comes in verse 8 and the explanation for hardship in verses 9–11.
v.4Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste?
v.5This passage
v.6Ye 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.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- 2 Corinthians 13:5
Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves. Or know ye not as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed ye be reprobate.
- Galatians 6:4
But let each man prove his own work, and then shall he have his glorying in regard of himself alone, and not of his neighbor.
- Haggai 2:15
And now, I pray you, consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of Jehovah.
- Ezekiel 18:28
Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
- Psalms 48:13
Mark ye well her bulwarks; Consider her palaces: That ye may tell it to the generation following.
- Lamentations 3:40
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah.
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