en_tn_condensed/hag/02/14.md

# So Haggai answered and said, "So it is ... is unclean

Haggai answers the priests with the words that Yahweh told Haggai to tell the priests. Alternate translation: "So Haggai answered and told them Yahweh's words: 'So it is ... is unclean"

# So it is with this people and this nation before me

"I look at this people and this nation the same way." Yahweh reminds the priests that a clean thing that touches an unclean thing becomes unclean. He then reminds them that he thinks of them as unclean because they have been worshiping idols, and so everything they touch and make becomes unclean.

# this is Yahweh's declaration

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in [Haggai 1:9](../01/09.md). Alternate translation: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-123person]])