Haggai 2:17 (LSB)

Passage

I struck you and every work of your hands with scorching wind, mildew, and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares Yahweh.

Nearby Context

Haggai 2:15 But now, oh set your heart to consider from this day onward: from before one stone was set on another in the temple of Yahweh,

Haggai 2:16 from when it was that one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, then there would be only ten; and from when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty troughs full, then there would be only twenty.

Haggai 2:17 I struck you and every work of your hands with scorching wind, mildew, and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares Yahweh.

Haggai 2:18 ‘Oh set your heart to consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of Yahweh was founded, set your heart to consider:

Haggai 2:19 Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.’”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "struck", "hands", "scorching", "wind", "mildew", "hail", "come", and "back". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "struck" and "hands", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "from when it was that one came..." into verse 18's "Oh set your heart to consider from...", so "struck" and "hands" 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 "struck" and "hands" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.