Haggai 2:16
What does Haggai 2:16 mean?
A plain-English look at Haggai 2:16 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Haggai 2:16 means
Their memory confirms the lesson: they expected abundance but found shortage. A heap that should have yielded twenty measures gave only ten; a draw from the winepress that promised fifty vessels produced but twenty. These numbers are not precise accounting so much as vivid testimony of disappointment. God let their efforts come up short to get their attention. It was a mercy, not malice, that their emptiness might expose the emptiness of misordered lives. The prophet wants them to recognize that spiritual neglect carries practical consequences. When the foundation of worship is ignored, return on labor diminishes, and even success feels thin.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the winevat to draw out fifty vessels, there were but twenty.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the winevat to draw out fifty vessels, there were but twenty.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949How, when anyone came to a store of twenty measures, there were only ten: when anyone went to the wine-store to get fifty vessels full, there were only twenty.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862From that time <FI>one<Fi> hath come to a heap of twenty, And it hath been ten, He hath come unto the wine-fat to draw out fifty purahs, And it hath been twenty.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And now consider in your hearts, from this day and upward, before there was a stone laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890— before those [days] were, when one came to a heap of twenty [measures], there were but ten; when one came to the vat to draw out fifty press-measures, there were but twenty.
Context
This concrete recall of diminished yields strengthens the argument that follows in verse 17, where God explicitly claims responsibility for the smiting they experienced. It shows that the people’s hardship was not random bad luck but purposeful discipline. Having established the facts of frustration and loss, the narrative will move to God’s candid explanation and then to a gracious promise. The sequence readies the heart to hear that the same God who withheld in judgment now stands ready to bless from the day of renewed obedience (verses 18–19).
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Proverbs 3:9
Honor Jehovah with thy substance, And with the first-fruits of all thine increase:
- Haggai 1:9
Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house.
- Haggai 1:6
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.
- 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.
- Zechariah 8:10
For before those days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in, because of the adversary: for I set all men every one against his neighbor.
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