As in verse 5, translators may need to reopen the direct quotation if they closed it with a quotation formula at the end of verse 8.
The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former: The Hebrew words may be understood in more than one way. King James Version, following the Vulgate, translates “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former” (similarly Revised English Bible, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Contemporary English Version, Biblen: Det Gamle og Det Nye Testamente, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). This seems to mean that the new building itself would be more magnificent than Solomon’s Temple. Many modern scholars such as Chary, Amsler, Meyers & Meyers, and Verhoef support this view. It could be claimed that this came true after the Temple had been reconstructed by Herod the Great from about 20 B.C. onwards. The rabbis accepted this interpretation of the words of Haggai, but applied it to the length of time for which the two Temples stood (Cashdan). On this reckoning, the second Temple is definitely greater, as it stood for over 500 years, as against less than 400 years for Solomon’s Temple.
However, many modern versions follow the Septuagint interpretation and take the Hebrew to mean the latter splendor of the house shall be greater than the former (Revised Standard Version; similarly Revised Version, Moffatt, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Beck, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). This would seem to be a prophecy that in the future the splendor of the Temple then under construction would be much greater than it was at the time when Haggai spoke. This interpretation is appropriate to the needs of Haggai’s audience who were tempted to become discouraged by the present state of their work (verses 3-4). If a translator chooses to follow this interpretation, a possible alternative model is “Later on [or, Eventually] this Temple you [plural] are building will be more splendid than it is now,” or as Beck puts it, “In the future this temple will be more beautiful than it was at first.”
Good News Translation takes the first of these two interpretations, and translates “The new Temple will be more splendid than the old one”; Contemporary English Version is similar with “this new temple will be more glorious than the first one.” The difference between the two interpretations is rather a subtle one, and does not much affect the impact of the paragraph as a whole. Translators are free to choose whichever they consider to be more appropriate to the context. See the notes on verse 3 for comments on translating splendor or “glory.”
In this place I will give prosperity: It is not certain whether this place refers only to the Temple, or more generally to Jerusalem as a whole. Some commentators think that it means Jerusalem, and see a wordplay between this name (in Hebrew Yerushalayim) and the Hebrew word shalom. This is the word translated prosperity in Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, “peace” in Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New International Version, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Bible en français courant and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, and “prosperity and peace” in Good News Translation and New English Bible/Revised English Bible. The meaning includes both material and spiritual blessings, “signifying total spiritual, mental and physical well-being” (Wiseman). Very few languages have a single term of comparable meaning, and therefore many translators will need to follow the example of Good News Translation and New English Bible/Revised English Bible, and express the main components of the meaning by using two or more terms. In certain languages it will be necessary to say, for example, “I will give my people many good things,” indicating that prosperity means financial or material prosperity. If two terms are used, they may thus be expressed as “I will give my people many good things and cause them to live securely.” “Peace” in certain languages may be rendered idiomatically; for example, “live in coolness and happiness.”
The words says the LORD of hosts occur in Revised Standard Version after each half of the verse, but the expression is not the same both times in Hebrew. As noted in the comments on verse 4, the first occurrence is in Hebrew ʾamar YHWH tsevaʾoth, and marks a climax, and the second is neʾum YHWH tsevaʾoth, and marks the end of the paragraph. Good News Translation translates the two expressions only once, and makes a separate sentence: “The LORD Almighty has spoken.” The perfect tense in English is appropriate here, as it helps to indicate that this is the end of the paragraph, and indeed of the section. In other languages translators should use whatever means are appropriate to indicate the climax and the end of the paragraph.
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 .