For comments on Zerubbabel and Joshua, see the notes on verse 1. Good News Translation does not repeat their titles. The Hebrew text itself repeats only Joshua’s title, the high priest. Translators should include or omit the titles here according to the usage of their own language. For comments on the translation of high priest, see the notes on verse 1.
With all the remnant of the people: The expression all the remnant of the people may mean either “all the people who had returned from the exile in Babylonia” (Good News Translation) or possibly “all the people who had not gone into exile” (Good News Translation footnote). Most commentators accept the first interpretation as more probable, and translators are recommended to follow it. However, the real point of the expression here is not to distinguish between different groups among the people, but to distinguish the people as a whole from their two leaders. Translators could therefore say simply “all the rest of the people” (Moffatt, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). In some languages it will be necessary to use an explanatory clause for “exile in Babylonia”; for example, “had returned from Babylonia where they had been prisoners.”
The entire people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; that is to say, they “did what the LORD their God told them to do” (Good News Translation). In this way they showed a notable change of attitude from that shown by the people to the prophets before the exile. Compare Amos 7.10-13; Micah 2.6-7; Zech 1.4. In certain languages a literal translation of the phrase their God will mean that the people owned God. In such cases we may express the LORD their God as “the LORD, the God that they worshiped.” See the notes on verse 1 for the translation of prophet. The expression as the LORD their God had sent him is rather awkward in English and Good News Translation has translated it as “the LORD’s messenger,” borrowing the expression that occurs in the next verse. Many translators will also find a noun convenient at this point. Contemporary English Version has a more helpful model for this part of this verse: “obeyed the LORD’s message spoken by his prophet Haggai.” This makes it clear that the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet are not two separate things.
And the people feared before the LORD: Feared when combined with the LORD often means “respected” in the Old Testament, as in Contemporary English Version “and they started showing proper respect for the LORD.” In the present context it could also be taken to mean “afraid,” as in Good News Translation (similarly New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible). If taken in this sense, it may be expressed idiomatically in many languages; for example, “their livers shivered” or “their hearts/livers fell.”
It will be helpful in many languages to break this verse up into two or more sentences as Good News Translation has done. In Good News Translation the clause obeyed the voice of the LORD their God is made into one sentence, and the clause the people feared is linked with the obedience to the words of Haggai the prophet as cause and effect. The example of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 2. Edition is probably better than Good News Translation. It says that the people “recognized that God had sent the prophet to them, and so were afraid because they had not honored the LORD fittingly.” For a suggested translation model of this verse and the next, see the notes on verse 13.
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Haggai. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .