What Does Haggai 2:18 Mean in the King James?
Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid, consider it.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The command translated “consider it” carries the concrete sense “set your heart,” placing the present at the foundation from which what follows is read.
THE MEANING
This day becomes a point of orientation: your heart is set toward the foundation of the LORD’s temple. The repeated call makes consideration a placement, so the present is read from a beginning that has already been established.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that this moment has no grounding: the foundation is already laid, and the day becomes a point of reference.
THE ROOT
שִׂימוּ לְבַבְכֶם
simu levavkhem
GROWS FROM
שים
s-y-m
to put, set, or place
“consider” in this verse is simu levavkhem. The Hebrew phrase carries the sense “set your heart.” Consideration here has direction: the heart is placed toward a point of reference, and the repeated command marks the day as a place to begin from.
ALSO GROWS
sam: he put, set, or placed
שָׂם
This form makes the root’s concrete action clear: the heart is placed toward the foundation.
yasim: he will put, set, or place
יָשִׂים
The same root carries placement forward, matching the verse’s movement from this day onward.
יֻסַּד
yussad
GROWS FROM
יסד
y-s-d
to found or establish
“foundation was laid” in this verse is yussad. The foundation is described as established. This root also gives Hebrew its word for a foundation or basis, linking the marked day to something made firm from which the present can be read.
ALSO GROWS
yasad: to found or establish
יָסַד
The verb names the act that gives this day its significance: a foundation is established.
yesod: foundation or basis
יְסוֹד
This noun makes explicit the firm starting point around which the verse sets the heart.
mosad: foundation or established institution
מוֹסָד
This branch extends the root’s sense from founding an object to establishing something that can endure.
THE PATTERN
What is being built is measured from a foundation already established.
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.THE THREAD
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.The Hebrew verb translated “laid” in both passages comes from יסד (yasad, “to found or establish”). Zechariah joins that foundation to its finishing, opening Haggai’s marked day as the beginning of a work that continues toward completion.
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