Texts in Conversation
The Hebrew version of Haggai says the prophet delivered God’s message to the people. The Greek Septuagint interprets the rare word as “messengers,” so Haggai speaks among the angels, turning a plain report into a heavenly one.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Haggai 1:13
Hebrew Bible
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, along with the whole remnant of the people, obeyed the Lord their God. They responded favorably to the message of the prophet Haggai, who spoke just as the Lord their God had instructed him, and the people began to respect the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s announcement to the people: “I am with you,” decrees the Lord. 14 So the Lord energized and encouraged Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the whole remnant of the people. They came and worked on the temple of their God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
LXX Haggai 1:13
Septuagint
12 And Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, from the tribe of Judah, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the great priest, and all the remaining people heard the voice of the Lord, their God, and the words of the prophet Haggai, since the Lord, their God, had sent him to them; and the people were afraid before the face of the Lord. 13 And Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, said among the messengers of the Lord to the people, “ ‘I am with you,’ says the Lord.” 14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, from the tribe of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the great priest, and the spirit of the rest of all the people; and they went into, and were doing work in, the house of the Lord Almighty,
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Notes and References
... messenger. Divine will is to be transmitted to the people through prophetic emissaries, and this designation (Hebrew malʾak) is applied specifically also to Malachi (1:1), whose name may actually be an appellative meaning “my messenger.” Imagery is drawn from the Divine Council scene as well as from the means for transmitting God’s judgments, once they are made in the Council, to the people (see Note to “the word of Yahweh,” 1:1). In Zechariah’s visionary sequence, angelic messengers figure prominently (compare 1:9, Note to “angel-who-speaks-with-me” and 3:1, Note to “angel of Yahweh”). message. The noun malʾákût appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint renders “messenger.” The similarity in Hebrew to the word “work” (mēlāʾkâ) in verse 14 has perhaps influenced this choice of word ...
Meyers, Carol L., and Eric M. Meyers
Haggai, Zechariah 1-8: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
(p. 35) Doubleday, 1987
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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