Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Haggai 1:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Catalogs sowing, eating, drinking, clothing, and earning whose results fail to satisfy or secure.
Read It With
- Haggai 1:1–6
Read Haggai 1:1–6 together. Catalogs sowing, eating, drinking, clothing, and earning whose results fail to satisfy or secure. The date, reported delay, house contrast, command to consider, and inventory of futility form the complete opening confrontation.
Read Haggai 1:5–6 together
Why these verses belong together: The command to consider is immediately specified by the five-part inventory of effort without satisfying yield.
Verse 5. 5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
Verse 6. 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
Follow the Context
- The book locates the word in Darius's second year and sends it through Haggai to Judah's governor and high priest.
- The LORD of hosts reports the people's claim that the proper time to rebuild has not arrived.
- A renewed word asks whether it is time for their finished houses while the LORD's house remains waste.
- The command 'Consider your ways' asks the hearers to set their attention on the course and result of their lives.
- Sowing, eating, drinking, clothing, and earning all produce less satisfaction or security than expected.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“a bag with holes”
In plain language: Earnings fail to provide the expected security.
The final image caps a five-part inventory of effort without satisfying result.
Why it matters: It belongs to a communal covenant warning, not an accusation against every low-income worker.
How certain? very strongWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Haggai 1:6 does not teach that every financial shortfall, poor harvest, or unsatisfied desire proves personal disobedience.
What Remains True
Effort and consumption can remain deeply unsatisfying when covenant responsibility is persistently displaced.
How It Can Shape Life
- Review a pattern of constant work and unmet purpose without using this verse to blame every struggling person for secret sin.
Teach It Back
Explain Haggai 1:6's contribution to Haggai 1:1–6: Catalogs sowing, eating, drinking, clothing, and earning whose results fail to satisfy or secure. Include the surrounding movement, one material uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Haggai 1:1–6 — The Dated Word Exposes Neglected Worship and Fruitless LaborSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The verse uses covenant-futility imagery, but the precise social distribution of scarcity is not described.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Haggai 1:1–6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Haggai
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew clauses, verbal forms, divine titles, repeated words, and the base text behind lexical and translation analysis.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2 (commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00), wlc/Hag.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 1:1–6
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Haggai with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Material date, Hebrew, translation, textual, ritual, historical, and interpretive notes for the unit, tested rather than adopted automatically.
Exact location: NET Bible Haggai PDF, pp. 1784–1785, translation and notes on 1:1–6
Open source ↗