Haggai 1:6
What does Haggai 1:6 mean?
A plain-English look at Haggai 1:6 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Haggai 1:6 means
God points to the people’s lived experience: despite heavy sowing, food, drink, clothing, and wages leave them unsatisfied and insecure. Their labor drains away like coins into a purse full of holes. This is not random misfortune but a merciful alarm. The covenant Lord uses material frustration to alert them that something is wrong at the heart. They are busy but barren because they have sidelined God’s honor. He is not condemning work or provision but showing that when His worship is neglected, even good things do not satisfy. The emptiness is instructive. It invites them to ask why effort yields so little, and to see that God Himself is pressing them toward renewed obedience.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Ye 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
King James Version · 1611Ye 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.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Ye 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.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Much has been planted, but little got in; you take food, but have not enough; you take drink, but are not full; you are clothed, but no one is warm; and he who gets payment for his work, gets it to put it into a bag full of holes.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Ye have sown much, and brought in little, To eat, and not to satiety, To drink, and not to drunkenness, To clothe, and none hath heat, And he who is hiring himself out, Is hiring himself for a bag pierced through.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752You have sowed much, and brought in little: you have eaten, but have not had enough: you have drunk, but have not been filled with drink: you have clothed yourselves, but have not been warmed: and he that hath earned wages, put them into a bag with holes.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but are not satisfied; ye drink, but are not filled with drink; ye clothe yourselves, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages for a bag with holes.
Context
After the call to consider their ways (verse 5), verse 6 supplies the concrete data for reflection: a pattern of persistent futility. This prepares the ground for the repeated appeal in verse 7 and the remedy in verse 8. The sequence shows that God’s rebuke is not abstract; it is tied to their everyday realities. What they feel in their fields, tables, and pockets ties directly to the spiritual neglect highlighted in verses 4 and 9–11.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Leviticus 26:26
When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
- Malachi 2:2
If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith Jehovah of hosts, then will I send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
- Hosea 4:10
And they shall eat, and not have enough; they shall play the harlot, and shall not increase; because they have left off taking heed to Jehovah.
- 1 Kings 17:12
And she said, As Jehovah thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
- 2 Samuel 21:1
And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Jehovah. And Jehovah said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites.
- Isaiah 5:10
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.
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