The WORD of the LORD,
through Haggai, His prophet:
Haggai 1:4
King James Version
4 Is it time for you,
O ye,
to dwell in your cieled houses,
and this house lie waste?
What are "cieled" houses?
I had an idea, but I wanted to be sure.
So, I turn to the Bible.
True enough, my suspicions had foundation.
SPIRIT led me to the various Scripture versions:
Haggai 1:4
21st Century King James Version
4 “Is it time for you,
O ye, to dwell in your ceilinged houses, and this house lie waste?”
Haggai 1:4
Amplified Bible
4 “Is it time for you yourselves to live in your [expensive] paneled houses while this house [of the Lord] lies in ruins?”
Haggai 1:4
Christian Standard Bible
4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house[a] lies in ruins?”
Haggai 1:4-5
Contemporary English Version
2-5 that the Lord All-Powerful had said to them and to the people:
You say this isn't the right time to build a temple for me. But is it right for you to live in expensive houses,[a] while my temple is a pile of ruins? Just look at what's happening.
Haggai 1:4
Darby Translation
4 Is it time for you that ye should dwell in your wainscoted houses, while this house lieth waste?
Haggai 1:4
Easy-to-Read Version
4 “You people think the right time has come for you to live in nice houses. You live in houses with beautiful wooden paneling on the walls, but the Lord’s house is still in ruins.
Haggai 1:4
Expanded Bible
4 “Is it right for you to be living in ·fancy [L paneled] houses while ·the Temple [L this house] is still in ruins?”
Haggai 1:4
Good News Translation
4 “My people, why should you be living in well-built houses while my Temple lies in ruins?
Haggai 1:4
International Children’s Bible
4 “The Temple is still in ruins. Is it right for you to be living in fancy houses?”
Haggai 1:4
Living Bible
3-4 His reply to them is this: “Is it then the right time for you to live in luxurious homes, when the Temple lies in ruins?
Haggai 1:4
The Message
3-4 Shortly after that, God said more and Haggai spoke it: “How is it that it’s the ‘right time’ for you to live in your fine new homes while the Home, God’s Temple, is in ruins?”
Haggai 1:4
New English Translation
4 “Is it right for you to live in richly paneled houses[a] while my temple is in ruins?[b]
Haggai 1:4
New International Reader's Version
4 “My temple is still destroyed. But you are living in your houses that have beautiful wooden walls.”
Haggai 1:4
New Life Version
4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your houses with walls covered with wood, while this house lies waste?”
Haggai 1:4
New Living Translation
4 “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?
Chaggai 1:4
Orthodox Jewish Bible
4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your paneled batim, and this Beis [HaMikdash] lie in ruins?
Haggai 1:4
The Voice
Eternal One: 4 Do you think the time is right for you to live in secure and lavishly covered homes when My house still lies in a heap of rubble?
Haggai 1:4
Wycliffe Bible
4 Whether it is time to you, that ye dwell in houses coupled with timber, and this house be desert(ed), either forsaken? (Is it right for you to live in houses built with timber, while this House, my Temple, is deserted, or abandoned/while this House of mine lieth in ruins?)
Haggai 1:4
Young's Literal Translation
4 Is it time for you -- you! To dwell in your covered houses, And this house to lie waste?
In SUMMARY, here's what a "ceiled" house means:
ceilinged houses
[expensive] paneled houses
paneled houses
expensive houses
wainscoted houses
nice houses
houses with beautiful wooden paneling on the walls
fancy [L paneled] houses
well-built houses
fancy houses
luxurious homes
fine new homes
richly paneled houses
houses that have beautiful wooden walls
houses with walls covered with wood
luxurious houses
paneled batim
secure and lavishly covered homes
houses coupled with timber
houses built with timber
covered houses
All the Bible versions above point to a "cieled" house, as a lavish, ostentatious house.
No wonder ostentatious design never held appeal for me.
As an architecture student in college, I had absolutely no desire to fulfill the whims of future clients.
I was always impatient with such foolishness.
My interest always lay in low-cost housing, where all could be housed, in the most comfortable manner, no matter how simple the structure or basic the facilities.
It's been 43 years, and I had not deviated from such principles.
If anything, being born again nearly 35 months now, has further expanded my thinking.
Especially now that I serve the LORD.
In my heart, SPIRIT and I created a PRAISE village instead.
Where, the focus is on GOD, and GOD alone.
Which the LORD rightfully deserves.
Related material:
Why Designing Homes Never Really Interested Me
Image: Wallpaper Access
