Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built.

Is it time for you that ye should dwell in your wainscoted houses, while this house lieth waste?

The very thing that I solemnized with you, when ye came forth out of the land of Egypt, That, my spirit abiding in your midst, ye should not fear.

Then Haggai said, “If one who is [ceremonially] unclean because of [contact with] a corpse touches any of these [articles of food], will it be unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will be unclean.” [Ceremonial uncleanness, like sin, is infectious.]