Maleakhi 2:14-15

2:14 Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, ¹  to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. ²  2:15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. ³  What did our ancestor ⁴  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. ⁵ 

Maleakhi 3:7

3:7 From the days of your ancestors you have ignored ⁶  my commandments ⁷  and have not kept them! Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord who rules over all. “But you say, ‘How should we return?’

Maleakhi 3:4

3:4 The offerings ⁸  of Judah and Jerusalem ⁹  will be pleasing to the Lord as in former times and years past.

Maleakhi 2:3

2:3 I am about to discipline your children ¹⁰  and will spread offal ¹¹  on your faces, ¹²  the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.

Maleakhi 2:5

2:5 “My covenant with him was designed to bring life and peace. I gave its statutes to him to fill him with awe, and he indeed revered me and stood in awe before me.

Maleakhi 3:18

3:18 Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between ¹³  the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.

Maleakhi 3:17

3:17 “They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. ¹⁴  I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

Maleakhi 3:5

3:5 “I ¹⁵  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, ¹⁶  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ¹⁷  who refuse to help ¹⁸  the immigrant ¹⁹  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

[2:14]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord is a witness between you and [between] the wife of your youth.”

[2:14]  ² 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.

[2:15]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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”).

[3:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “turned aside from.”

[3:7]  ⁷ tn Or “statutes” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “decrees”; NLT “laws.”

[3:4]  ⁸ tn Or “gift.”

[3:4]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:3]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² sn See Zech 3:3-4 for similar coarse imagery which reflects cultic disqualification.

[3:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “you will see between.” Cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT “see the difference.”

[3:17]  ¹⁴ sn The Hebrew word סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah, “special property”) is a technical term referring to all the recipients of God’s redemptive grace, especially Israel (Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18). The Lord says here that he will not forget even one individual in the day of judgment and reward.

[3:5]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”