And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.
And I called for. What the "heaven" and "earth," the second causes, were said to do (Haggai 1:10), being the visible instruments, Yahweh, in this verse, the invisible First Cause, declares to be His doing. He "calls for" famine, etc., as instruments of His wrath (2 Kings 8:1; Psalms 105:16). The contrast is striking between the prompt obedience of these material agencies and the slothful disobedience of living men, His people.
A drought - Hebrew, х choreb (H2721)], like in sound to х chaareeb (H2720)], 'waste' (Haggai 1:4; Haggai 1:9): said of A drought - Hebrew, х choreb (H2721)], like in sound to х chaareeb (H2720)], 'waste' (Haggai 1:4; Haggai 1:9): said of God's house; implying the correspondence between the sin and its punishment. Ye have let my house be waste, and I will send on all that is yours a wasting drought. This would affect not merely the "grain," etc., but also "men" and "cattle," who must perish in the absence of the "grain," etc., lost by the drought.
And upon all the labour of the hands - all the fruits of lands, gardens, and vineyards, obtained by labour of the hands (Deuteronomy 28:33; Psalms 78:46).