Hagai 2:3-4

2:3 ‘Who among you survivors saw the former splendor of this temple? ¹  How does it look to you now? Isn’t it nothing by comparison? 2:4 Even so, take heart, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord. ‘Take heart, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and ²  all you citizens of the land,’ ³  says the Lord, ‘and begin to work. For I am with you,’ says the Lord who rules over all.

[2:3]  ¹ tn Heb “this house in its earlier splendor”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “in its former glory.”

[2:3]  sn Solomon’s temple was demolished in 586 b.c., 66 years prior to Haggai’s time. There surely would have been some older people who remembered the former splendor of that magnificent structure and who lamented the contrast to the small, unimpressive temple they were building (see Ezra 3:8-13).

[2:4]  ² tn Heb “and take heart.” Although emphatic, the repetition of the verb is redundant in contemporary English style and has been left untranslated.

[2:4]  ³ tn Heb “the people of the land” (עַם הָאָרֶץ, ’am ha’arets); this is a technical term referring to free citizens as opposed to slaves.