Passage
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests the law, saying:
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests the law, saying:
Haggai 2:10 Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.
Haggai 2:11 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius the king, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying:
Haggai 2:12 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests the law, saying:
Haggai 2:13 If a man carry sanctified flesh in the skirt of his garment, and touch with his skirt, bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat: shall it be sanctified? And the priests answered, and said: No.
Haggai 2:14 And Haggai said: If one that is unclean by occasion of a soul touch any of all these things, shall it be defiled? And the priests answered, and said: It shall be defiled.
The verse centers on "thus", "saith", "lord", "hosts", "priests", and "saying". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thus" and "saith", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 11's "In the four and twentieth day of..." into verse 13's "If a man carry sanctified flesh in...", so "thus" and "saith" 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 "thus" and "saith" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.