Before... there was no hire for man, or cattle, because the land was so unproductive (Haggai 1:6; Haggai 1:9-11); but “from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid... from this day will I bless you” (Haggai 2:18-19). LXX., ὁ μισθὸς... οὺκ ἔσται εἰς ὄνησιν, “the hire... would not be profitable,” reading the Hebrew verb, “was not,” as an Aramaic future, “will not be profitable.”
The affliction. — Better, the enemy. Not only were they oppressed by their neighbouring adversaries, but also during the time previous to their energetic resumption of the work of re-building, there took place the expedition of Cambyses against Egypt, when the march of the Persian hosts southwards through Palestine must have caused much distress to the Jews in their narrow circumstances.