Maleakhi 1:6

The Sacrilege of Priestly Service

1:6 “A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects ¹  his master. If I am your ²  father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The Lord who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, ‘How have we made light of your name?’

Maleakhi 2:1

The Sacrilege of the Priestly Message

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

Maleakhi 2:4

2:4 Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant ³  may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 2:7

2:7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him ⁴  because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 3:3

3:3 He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering.

Maleakhi 3:5

3:5 “I ⁵  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, ⁶  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ⁷  who refuse to help ⁸  the immigrant ⁹  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 3:15

3:15 So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. ¹⁰  In fact, those who challenge ¹¹  God escape!’”

Maleakhi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) ¹²  “For indeed the day ¹³  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 ¹⁴  will not leave even a root or branch.

Maleakhi 4:3

4:3 You will trample on the wicked, for they will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 4:6

4:6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, ¹⁵  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ¹⁶ 

[1:6]  ¹ tn The verb “respects” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. It is understood by ellipsis (see “honors” in the preceding line).

[1:6]  ² tn The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification (also a second time before “master” later in this verse).

[2:4]  ³ 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.

[2:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “from his mouth” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[3:5]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ⁹ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”

[3:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “built up” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “prosper”; NLT “get rich.”

[3:15]  ¹¹ tn Or “test”; NRSV, CEV “put God to the test.”

[4:1]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[4:6]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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.