Maleakhi 2:3

2:3 I am about to discipline your children ¹  and will spread offal ²  on your faces, ³  the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.

Maleakhi 2:1

The Sacrilege of the Priestly Message

2:1 “Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.

1 Samuel 2:30

2:30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I really did say ⁴  that your house and your ancestor’s house would serve ⁵  me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May it never be! ⁶  For I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed!

Amsal 10:7

10:7 The memory ⁷  of the righteous is a blessing,

but the reputation ⁸  of the wicked will rot. ⁹ 

Daniel 12:2-3

12:2 Many of those who sleep

in the dusty ground will awake –

some to everlasting life,

and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. ¹⁰ 

12:3 But the wise will shine

like the brightness of the heavenly expanse.

And those bringing many to righteousness

will be like the stars forever and ever.

Mikha 3:6-7

3:6 Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; ¹¹ 

it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. ¹² 

The sun will set on these prophets,

and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. ¹³ 

3:7 The prophets ¹⁴  will be ashamed;

the omen readers will be humiliated.

All of them will cover their mouths, ¹⁵ 

for they will receive no divine oracles.” ¹⁶ 

[2:3]  ¹ tc The phrase “discipline your children” is disputed. The LXX and Vulgate suppose זְרוֹעַ (zÿroa’, “arm”) for the MT זֶרַע (zera’, “seed”; hence, “children”). Then, for the MT גֹעֵר (go’er, “rebuking”) the same versions suggest גָּרַע (gara’, “take away”). The resulting translation is “I am about to take away your arm” (cf. NAB “deprive you of the shoulder”). However, this reading is unlikely. It is common for a curse (v. 2) to fall on offspring (see, e.g., Deut 28:18, 32, 41, 53, 55, 57), but a curse never takes the form of a broken or amputated arm. It is preferable to retain the reading of the MT here.

[2:3]  ² tn The Hebrew term פֶרֶשׁ (feresh, “offal”) refers to the entrails as ripped out in preparing a sacrificial victim (BDB 831 s.v. פֶּרֶשׁ). This graphic term has been variously translated: “dung” (KJV, RSV, NRSV, NLT); “refuse” (NKJV, NASB); “offal” (NEB, NIV).

[2:3]  ³ sn See Zech 3:3-4 for similar coarse imagery which reflects cultic disqualification.

[2:30]  ⁴ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[2:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “walk about before.”

[2:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “may it be far removed from me.”

[10:7]  ⁷ sn “Memory” (זֵכֶר, zekher) and “name” are often paired as synonyms. “Memory” in this sense has to do with reputation, fame. One’s reputation will be good or bad by righteousness or wickedness respectively.

[10:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “name.” The term “name” often functions as a metonymy of association for reputation (BDB 1028 s.v. שֵׁם 2.b).

[10:7]  ⁹ tn The editors of BHS suggest a reading “will be cursed” to make a better parallelism, but the reading of the MT is more striking as a metaphor.

[10:7]  sn To say the wicked’s name will rot means that the name will be obliterated from memory (Exod 17:14; Deut 25:19), leaving only a bad memory for a while.

[12:2]  ¹⁰ sn This verse is the only undisputed reference to a literal resurrection found in the Hebrew Bible.

[3:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it will be night for you without a vision.”

[3:6]  sn The coming of night (and darkness in the following line) symbolizes the cessation of revelation.

[3:6]  ¹² tn Heb “it will be dark for you without divination.”

[3:6]  sn The reading of omens (Heb “divination”) was forbidden in the law (Deut 18:10), so this probably reflects the prophets’ view of how they received divine revelation.

[3:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the day will be dark over them.”

[3:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “seers.”

[3:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the mustache,” or perhaps “the beard.” Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “cover their lips.”

[3:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for there will be no answer from God.”