Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
Ye looked for much - literally, "looked," so as to turn your eyes to much. The Hebrew infinitive here expresses continued looking х paanoh (H6437) 'el (H413)]. Ye hoped to have your store made "much" by neglecting the temple. The greater was your greediness, the more bitter your disappointment in being poorer than ever.
And when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it - even the little crop brought into your barns I dissipated. "I did blow upon" - i:e., I scattered and caused to perish with my mere breath, as scattered and blighted corn.
Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house - in emphatic antithesis.
Ye run - expressing the keenness of each one of them in pursuing their own selfish interests (cf. "run," Proverbs 1:16), contrasted with their apathy about God's house. The believer's desire, on the contrary, is to be enabled, by God's liberating, enlarging influence on his heart, to "run the way of God's commandments" (Psalms 119:32).