Maleakhi 2:12

2:12 May the Lord cut off from the community ¹  of Jacob every last person who does this, ²  as well as the person who presents improper offerings to the Lord who rules over all!

Maleakhi 2:9

2:9 “Therefore, I have caused you to be ignored and belittled before all people to the extent to which you are not following after me and are showing partiality in your ³  instruction.”

Maleakhi 2:11

2:11 Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. ⁴  For Judah has profaned ⁵  the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god! ⁶ 

Maleakhi 2:17

Resistance to the Lord through Self-deceit

2:17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion, ⁷  and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Maleakhi 2:13

2:13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears ⁸  as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you.

Maleakhi 2:15

2:15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. ⁹  What did our ancestor ¹⁰  do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth. ¹¹ 

Maleakhi 3:15

3:15 So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. ¹²  In fact, those who challenge ¹³  God escape!’”

Maleakhi 2:8

2:8 You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law; ¹⁴  you have corrupted the covenant with Levi,” ¹⁵  says the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 2:10

The Rebellion of the People

2:10 Do we not all have one father? ¹⁶  Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors?

Maleakhi 2:16

2:16 “I hate divorce,” ¹⁷  says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” ¹⁸  says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”

Maleakhi 4:6

4:6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, ¹⁹  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ²⁰ 

Maleakhi 1:3

1:3 and rejected Esau. ²¹  I turned Esau’s ²²  mountains into a deserted wasteland ²³  and gave his territory ²⁴  to the wild jackals.”

Maleakhi 2:2

2:2 If you do not listen and take seriously ²⁵  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ²⁶  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

Maleakhi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) ²⁷  “For indeed the day ²⁸  is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord who rules over all. “It ²⁹  will not leave even a root or branch.

Maleakhi 3:14

3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ³⁰  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ³¹ 

Maleakhi 2:4

2:4 Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant ³²  may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 2:6

2:6 He taught what was true; ³³  sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin.

Maleakhi 3:5

3:5 “I ³⁴  will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, ³⁵  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ³⁶  who refuse to help ³⁷  the immigrant ³⁸  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 1:8

1:8 For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, ³⁹  is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them ⁴⁰  to your governor! Will he be pleased with you ⁴¹  or show you favor?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 1:10

1:10 “I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ⁴²  so that you no longer would light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will no longer accept an offering from you.

Maleakhi 2:14

2:14 Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, ⁴³  to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. ⁴⁴ 

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “tents,” used figuratively for the community here (cf. NCV, TEV); NLT “the nation of Israel.”

[2:12]  ² tc Heb “every man who does this, him who is awake and him who answers.” For “answers” the LXX suggests an underlying Hebrew text of עָנָה (’anah, “to be humbled”), and then the whole phrase is modified slightly: “until he is humbled.” This requires also that the MT עֵר (’er, “awake”) be read as עֵד (’ed, “until”; here the LXX reads ἕως, Jews). The reading of the LXX is most likely an alteration to correct what is arguably a difficult text.

[2:12]  tn Heb “every man who does this, him who is awake and him who answers.” The idea seems to be a merism expressing totality, that is, everybody from the awakener to the awakened, thus “every last person who does this” (NLT similar); NIV “whoever he may be.”

[2:9]  ³ tn Heb “in the instruction” (so NASB). The Hebrew article is used here as a possessive pronoun (cf. NRSV, NLT).

[2:11]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:11]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “secularized”; cf. NIV “desecrated”; TEV, NLT “defiled”; CEV “disgraced.”

[2:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “has married the daughter of a foreign god.” Marriage is used here as a metaphor to describe Judah’s idolatry, that is, her unfaithfulness to the Lord and “remarriage” to pagan gods. But spiritual intermarriage found expression in literal, physical marriage as well, as vv. 14-16 indicate.

[2:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”

[2:13]  ⁸ sn You cover the altar of the Lord with tears. These tears are the false tears of hypocrisy, not genuine tears of repentance. The people weep because the Lord will not hear them, not because of their sin.

[2:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “and not one has done, and a remnant of the spirit to him.” The very elliptical nature of the statement suggests it is proverbial. The present translation represents an attempt to clarify the meaning of the statement (cf. NASB).

[2:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the one.” This is an oblique reference to Abraham who sought to obtain God’s blessing by circumventing God’s own plan for him by taking Hagar as wife (Gen 16:1-6). The result of this kind of intermarriage was, of course, disastrous (Gen 16:11-12).

[2:15]  ¹¹ sn The wife he took in his youth probably refers to the first wife one married (cf. NCV “the wife you married when you were young”).

[3:15]  ¹² tn Heb “built up” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “prosper”; NLT “get rich.”

[3:15]  ¹³ tn Or “test”; NRSV, CEV “put God to the test.”

[2:8]  ¹⁴ tn The definite article embedded within בַּתּוֹרָה (battorah) may suggest that the Torah is in mind and not just “ordinary” priestly instruction, though it might refer to the instruction previously mentioned (v. 7).

[2:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the Levitical covenant.”

[2:10]  ¹⁶ sn The rhetorical question Do we not all have one father? by no means teaches the “universal fatherhood of God,” that is, that all people equally are children of God. The reference to the covenant in v. 10 as well as to Israel and Judah (v. 11) makes it clear that the referent of “we” is God’s elect people.

[2:16]  ¹⁷ tc The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) appears to be a third person form, “he hates,” which makes little sense in the context, unless one emends the following word to a third person verb as well. Then one might translate, “he [who] hates [his wife] [and] divorces her…is guilty of violence.” A similar translation is advocated by M. A. Shields, “Syncretism and Divorce in Malachi 2,10-16,” ZAW 111 (1999): 81-85. However, it is possible that the first person pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) has accidentally dropped from the text after כִּי (ki). If one restores the pronoun, the form שָׂנֵא can be taken as a participle and the text translated, “for I hate” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[2:16]  sn Though the statement “I hate divorce” may (and should) be understood as a comprehensive biblical principle, the immediate context suggests that the divorce in view is that of one Jewish person by another in order to undertake subsequent marriages. The injunction here by no means contradicts Ezra’s commands to Jewish men to divorce their heathen wives (Ezra 9–10).

[2:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “him who covers his garment with violence” (similar ASV, NRSV). Here “garment” is a metaphor for appearance and “violence” a metonymy of effect for cause. God views divorce as an act of violence against the victim.

[4:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he will turn the heart[s] of [the] fathers to [the] sons, and the heart[s] of [the] sons to their fathers.” This may mean that the messenger will encourage reconciliation of conflicts within Jewish families in the postexilic community (see Mal 2:10; this interpretation is followed by most English versions). Another option is to translate, “he will turn the hearts of the fathers together with those of the children [to me], and the hearts of the children together with those of their fathers [to me].” In this case the prophet encourages both the younger and older generations of sinful society to repent and return to the Lord (cf. Mal 3:7). This option is preferred in the present translation; see Beth Glazier-McDonald, Malachi (SBLDS), 256.

[4:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[the] ban” (חֵרֶם, kherem). God’s prophetic messenger seeks to bring about salvation and restoration, thus avoiding the imposition of the covenant curse, that is, the divine ban that the hopelessly unrepentant must expect (see Deut 7:2; 20:17; Judg 1:21; Zech 14:11). If the wicked repent, the purifying judgment threatened in 4:1-3 will be unnecessary.

[1:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “and I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated.” The context indicates this is technical covenant vocabulary in which “love” and “hate” are synonymous with “choose” and “reject” respectively (see Deut 7:8; Jer 31:3; Hos 3:1; 9:15; 11:1).

[1:3]  ²² tn Heb “his”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:3]  ²³ tn Heb “I set his mountains as a desolation.”

[1:3]  ²⁴ tn Or “inheritance” (so NIV, NLT).

[2:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and if you do not place upon [the] heart”; KJV, NAB, NRSV “lay it to heart.”

[2:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the curse” (so NASB, NRSV); NLT “a terrible curse.”

[4:1]  ²⁷ sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:6 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:19 HT, 4:2 ET = 3:20 HT, etc., through 4:6 ET = 3:24 HT. Thus the book of Malachi in the Hebrew Bible has only three chapters, with 24 verses in ch. 3.

[4:1]  ²⁸ sn This day is the well-known “day of the Lord” so pervasive in OT eschatological texts (see Joel 2:30-31; Amos 5:18; Obad 15). For the believer it is a day of grace and salvation; for the sinner, a day of judgment and destruction.

[4:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[3:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”

[3:14]  ³¹ sn The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the Lord. The reason, of course, is that it was blatantly hypocritical.

[2:4]  ³² sn My covenant refers to the priestly covenant through Aaron and his grandson Phinehas (see Exod 6:16-20; Num 25:10-13; Jer 33:21-22). The point here is to contrast the priestly ideal with the disgraceful manner in which it was being carried out in postexilic times.

[2:6]  ³³ tn Heb “True teaching was in his mouth”; cf. NASB, NRSV “True instruction (doctrine NAB) was in his mouth.”

[3:5]  ³⁴ tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the Lord) indicates that the Lord himself now speaks (see also v. 1). The prophet speaks in vv. 2-4 (see also 2:17).

[3:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ³⁷ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ³⁸ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”

[1:8]  ³⁹ sn Offerings of animals that were lame or sick were strictly forbidden by the Mosaic law (see Deut 15:21).

[1:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “it” (so NAB, NASB). Contemporary English more naturally uses a plural pronoun to agree with “the lame and sick” in the previous question (cf. NIV, NCV).

[1:8]  ⁴¹ tc The LXX and Vulgate read “with it” (which in Hebrew would be הֲיִרְצֵהוּ, hayirtsehu, a reading followed by NAB) rather than “with you” of the MT (הֲיִרְצְךָ, hayirtsÿkha). The MT (followed here by most English versions) is to be preferred because of the parallel with the following phrase פָנֶיךָ (fanekha, “receive you,” which the present translation renders as “show you favor”).

[1:10]  ⁴² sn The rhetorical language suggests that as long as the priesthood and people remain disobedient, the temple doors may as well be closed because God is not “at home” to receive them or their worship there.

[2:14]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the Lord is a witness between you and [between] the wife of your youth.”

[2:14]  ⁴⁴ sn Though there is no explicit reference to marriage vows in the OT (but see Job 7:13; Prov 2:17; Ezek 16:8), the term law (Heb “covenant”) here asserts that such vows or agreements must have existed. References to divorce documents (e.g., Deut 24:1-3; Jer 3:8) also presuppose the existence of marriage documents.