And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people: For comments on Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, see the notes on verse 1. In the present context it is more important to repeat their offices (governor and high priest) than to repeat their fathers’ names. For comments on all the remnant of the people, see the notes on verse 12.

The expression the LORD stirred up the spirit of is fairly common in the later parts of the Old Testament; see 1 Chr 5.26; Jer 51.1; compare Ezra 1.5. It is well translated by Good News Translation in natural modern English as “The LORD inspired.” Other ways to express this idea are “roused” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “stimulated,” or “motivated.” Translators may also say, “The LORD worked in the hearts of … so that they…,” or use some idiomatic expression, such as “The LORD caused their hearts to get hot.” Contemporary English Version has a helpful model: “So the LORD God All-Powerful made everyone eager to work on his temple, especially Zerubbabel and Joshua.”

And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God: For comments on the house of the LORD of hosts, see the notes on verse 2. For comments on their God, see the notes on verse 12. Came and worked on the house may simply be rendered “began to build the Temple.”

The people began work on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month: that is on September 21, 520 B.C. (based on Parker and Dubberstein). This was twenty-three days after Haggai delivered his original message (see verse 1). Since this was the time of year when the harvest was gathered in, we may assume that the people were busy completing their harvesting during those twenty-three days. In some languages it may be more convenient to write twenty-fourth in figures rather than in words. For comments on the sixth month, see the notes on verse 1.

In the second year of Darius the king: For comments on this phrase, see the notes on verse 1. Since verse 15 ends with a date, and the next verse (2.1) begins with a date, it is not certain whether these words should be taken with the first date (as Revised Version, Good News Translation, New International Version, New Living Translation, Biblen: Det Gamle og Det Nye Testamente, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente) or with the second (as Moffatt, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible/Revised English Bible, Beck, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Since both dates are quite clearly in the same year, there is no significant difference of meaning involved. In 1.1 the year of the emperor’s reign is given at the beginning of the date, but in 2.10 it is given at the end, so both positions are possible. However, in terms of the discourse structure of the book, a date is the highest ranking marker of a new section. Therefore on discourse grounds, it seems more likely that the pattern is year-month-day, the same as in 1.1, and that the second year of Darius goes with the date that follows in 2.1.

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 .