Haggai 2:20

(Verse 19, 20.) Set your hearts from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day on which the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, set it on your hearts. Is the seed still in the barn? And yet the fig tree, the vine, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. From this day on I will bless you. LXX: Set your hearts from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day on which the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, set it in your hearts: If more shall be known upon the earth, and if yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive trees do not bear fruit? So I will bless you from this day. I have told you what you have endured before you began to build my temple: now I will explain what prosperous things will come to you, because you have begun to build my temple. Therefore, on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, when the foundations of the temple were laid, consider the abundance of things that will come. The ninth month is what we call November or December. For the Hebrews, Nisan is the first month, which is called the month of new things: at the time when they celebrate Passover, that is, at the beginning of spring, which often falls in March and sometimes begins in April. Therefore, if we understand Nisan to mean April, the ninth month according to the Hebrews will be December. Therefore, the tenth month (also known as December) is the time when seeds lie hidden in the earth and their future fertility cannot be predicted. Is the seed already in the bud, as is better expressed in Hebrew as 'in the pod', to signify the husk of grain? Have the vine, fig tree, pomegranate, and olive tree given forth their blossoms? So it is not to be understood from the flowers and fruits. Indeed not; for in the month of December, as we have said, there are no signs of future crops. Therefore, do not say that I deduce this by prudent reasoning and speculate about the future fertility of trees, herbs, and crops from the flowers; behold, there are no signs; and yet I tell you that because you have started building my temple, for the blessing of all crops' fertility. This is what we have said according to the Hebrew. Moreover, according to the Septuagint, there is a very different meaning, which we must first explain literally, so that later the order of tropology can be discussed. Set your hearts from this day on, from the day on which the temple was founded, to the future, and you will see that there will be such great harvests in the future, and that so much grain will be carried from all the fields, that the threshing floor will not know its own produce, or that there are not individual threshing floors, but that one threshing floor is joined to another due to the multitude, and the separation of threshing floors is not known on the earth. Moreover, both the vine and the fig tree, and the pomegranate tree, and the olive tree, which previously did not bear fruit due to your vices, because you had not yet begun to build the temple, they will be bent down with such an abundance of grapes and fruits, that the evident fertility may indicate a manifest blessing. However, the ninth month is not to be taken in a good way, and the fourth book of the Kingdoms, and the story of Jeremiah, in which Jerusalem is said to be besieged (2 Kings 25, and Jer. 30 and 32). However, since the foundations of the temple are laid at the end of the ninth month, we can understand that the building of the Lord's temple is not begun unless evil works are finished. Therefore, on the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the foundation of the temple is laid, in which there are twelve dodekas and three octads, and four hexads, as discussed more fully above. Therefore, anyone who dedicates themselves to the worship of God and despises the negligent patron (who, in the book of Ezra according to the Septuagint interpreters, prohibits the building of God's temple), does not know the measure of their crops and wages. Certainly, because of what is said: 'If anyone still sows in the spirit and reaps eternal life from the spirit' (Galatians VI), he will by no means treasure on earth, but all his works and the rewards of his works will be gathered in heaven. And the vineyard, that is, the word of God, of which the Father is the farmer in each one; and the fig tree, the sweetest gifts of the Holy Spirit; and the pomegranate, the teachings of the Church and the knowledge of the Scriptures, which are compared to the cheeks of the bride in the Song of Songs (Canticles VIII); and the olive trees will give refreshment and enlightenment to the heart of the one who begins to build the temple of God. But as for the vineyard, fig tree, and olive tree (I will delay discussing the pomegranate for now), they are related to the person of the Savior, and of God the Father, and of the Holy Spirit, as is more fully explained in the book of Judges (Chapter 9). There, the unfruitful trees go to appoint a king over themselves, and in order, they say to the vine, fig tree, and olive tree, that they should reign over them. But both the vine, fig tree, and olive tree refuse such a rule, and do not deem it worthy to reign over unfruitful trees. Then they come to the tree of their barrenness, that is, the thorny tree of brambles, and the bush woven with prickles and hooks, which holds onto whatever it touches and wounds what it holds on to, and delights in the blood of the wounded: moreover, it emits fire from itself and consumes the ruled trees. But we refer the bramble to the devil, and according to the nature of the branch, we shall interpret its nature. Furthermore, there will be a vineyard, a fig tree, and an olive tree, where the pomegranate tree will be, which tree, on account of the excessive multitude of its seeds, and a certain geometric composition of interwoven membranes, and indeed diverse dwellings, yet all enclosed in one bark, is always set forth in the Scriptures as a representation of the Church.

I was inflicting various forms of correction on you—sterility, wind, blight, hail—but in your insensitivity you were unaware of the correction. Be mindful of this, then, and take note of the great prosperity you will enjoy after the commencement of the rebuilding, such being the abundance of necessities I shall provide you, with the result that in the future even the actual measures will have no use on the threshing floor. I shall also supply you with soft fruits as a blessing and provide the crop of the fruit trees.