In Hebrew the words introducing the direct speech are identical with those in verse 2, but with the addition of the opening Now. Such repetition is unnatural in English and Good News Translation therefore drops these words here, and continues the words of the LORD’s message directly from the previous verse. Many translators will wish to follow Good News Translation, but they should nevertheless indicate that a new paragraph begins at this point. The force of the word Now is to show that the argument is moving to a new stage.

Consider how you have fared: The exact sense of the Hebrew is expressed more clearly by such renderings as “Consider your way of life” (Revised English Bible), “Give careful thought to your ways” (New International Version), and “Think carefully about your behavior” (New Jerusalem Bible). The focus of the whole section 1.3-11 is more on the way the people have acted than on their lack of agricultural success. This focus becomes sharper in verses 7-11. The crop failures are a result of the people’s casual attitude toward God, and it is this attitude that God calls upon them to Consider. The command to Consider or think carefully is repeated in 1.7; 2.15, 18. Good News Translation translates the command here as “Don’t you see what is happening to you?” A negative question like this is very natural in English, and leads on easily to the answer given in verse 6. However, in many languages a negative question would be very confusing, and translators would give the correct meaning by staying closer to the form of the Hebrew, and saying, for example, “See [or, Look] what has happened to you,” or better, “Look at your way of life.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Haggai. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .