Haggai 1:9 (ASV)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Haggai 1:7 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways.

Haggai 1:8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah.

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 1:10 Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholdeth its fruit.

Haggai 1:11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "looked", "much", "came", "little", "brought", "home", "blow", and "upon". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "looked" and "much", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Go up to the mountain and bring..." into verse 10's "Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold...", so "looked" and "much" belong inside that flow. In Haggai context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "looked" and "much" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.