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, ¹  to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. ² 

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 4:4

Restoration through the Lord

4:4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb ⁴  I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. ⁵ 

Maleakhi 1:9

1:9 But now plead for God’s favor ⁶  that he might be gracious to us. ⁷  “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

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, ⁸  and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Maleakhi 2:10

The Rebellion of the People

2:10 Do we not all have one father? ⁹  Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors?

Maleakhi 1:4

1:4 Edom ¹⁰  says, “Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places.” So the Lord who rules over all ¹¹  responds, “They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as ¹²  the land of evil, the people with whom the Lord is permanently displeased.

Maleakhi 1:6

The Sacrilege of Priestly Service

1:6 “A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects ¹³  his master. If I am your ¹⁴  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 1:14

1:14 “There will be harsh condemnation for the hypocrite who has a valuable male animal in his flock but vows and sacrifices something inferior to the Lord. For I am a great king,” ¹⁵  says the Lord who rules over all, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

Maleakhi 3:16

3:16 Then those who respected ¹⁶  the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. ¹⁷  A scroll ¹⁸  was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name.

Maleakhi 2:3

2:3 I am about to discipline your children ¹⁹  and will spread offal ²⁰  on your faces, ²¹  the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.

Maleakhi 3:4

3:4 The offerings ²²  of Judah and Jerusalem ²³  will be pleasing to the Lord as in former times and years past.

Maleakhi 3:11-12

3:11 Then I will stop the plague ²⁴  from ruining your crops, ²⁵  and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the Lord who rules over all. 3:12 “All nations will call you happy, for you indeed will live in ²⁶  a delightful land,” 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. ²⁷  In fact, those who challenge ²⁸  God escape!’”

Maleakhi 2:15

2:15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. ²⁹  What did our ancestor ³⁰  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. ³¹ 

Maleakhi 3:10

3:10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ³²  so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all.

Maleakhi 2:13

2:13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears ³³  as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you.

Maleakhi 1:11

1:11 For from the east to the west my name will be great among the nations. Incense and pure offerings will be offered in my name everywhere, for my name will be great among the nations,” ³⁴  says the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) ³⁵  “For indeed the day ³⁶  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 ³⁷  will not leave even a root or branch.

[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.

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

[4:4]  ⁴ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (cf. Exod 3:1).

[4:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “which I commanded him in Horeb concerning all Israel, statutes and ordinances.”

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “seek the face of God.”

[1:9]  ⁷ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunction indicates purpose (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[2:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”

[2:10]  ⁹ 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.

[1:4]  ¹⁰ sn Edom, a “brother” nation to Israel, became almost paradigmatic of hostility toward Israel and God (see Num 20:14-21; Deut 2:8; Jer 49:7-22; Ezek 25:12-14; Amos 1:11-12; Obad 10-12).

[1:4]  ¹¹ sn The epithet Lord who rules over all occurs frequently as a divine title throughout Malachi (24 times total). This name (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, yÿhvah tsÿva’ot), traditionally translated “Lord of hosts” (so KJV, NAB, NASB; cf. NIV NLT “Lord Almighty”; NCV, CEV “Lord All-Powerful”), emphasizes the majestic sovereignty of the Lord, an especially important concept in the postexilic world of great human empires and rulers. For a thorough study of the divine title, see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 123-57.

[1:4]  ¹² tn Heb “and they will call them.” The third person plural subject is indefinite; one could translate, “and people will call them.”

[1:6]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification (also a second time before “master” later in this verse).

[1:14]  ¹⁵ sn The epithet great king was used to describe the Hittite rulers on their covenant documents and so, in the covenant ideology of Malachi, is an apt description of the Lord.

[3:16]  ¹⁶ tn Or “fear” (so NAB); NRSV “revered”; NCV “honored.”

[3:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “heard and listened”; NAB “listened attentively.”

[3:16]  ¹⁸ sn The scroll mentioned here is a “memory book” (סֵפֶר זִכָּרוֹן, sefer zikkaron) in which the Lord keeps an ongoing record of the names of all the redeemed (see Exod 32:32; Isa 4:3; Dan 12:1; Rev 20:12-15).

[2:3]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ sn See Zech 3:3-4 for similar coarse imagery which reflects cultic disqualification.

[3:4]  ²² tn Or “gift.”

[3:4]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the eater” (אֹכֵל, ’okhel), a general term for any kind of threat to crops and livelihood. This is understood as a reference to a locust plague by a number of English versions: NAB, NRSV “the locust”; NIV “pests”; NCV, TEV “insects.”

[3:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and I will rebuke for you the eater and it will not ruin for you the fruit of the ground.”

[3:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “will be” (so NAB, NRSV); TEV “your land will be a good place to live in.”

[3:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “built up” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “prosper”; NLT “get rich.”

[3:15]  ²⁸ tn Or “test”; NRSV, CEV “put God to the test.”

[2:15]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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”).

[3:10]  ³² tn The Hebrew phrase בֵּית הָאוֹצָר (bet ha’otsar, here translated “storehouse”) refers to a kind of temple warehouse described more fully in Nehemiah (where the term לִשְׁכָּה גְדוֹלָה [lishkah gÿdolah, “great chamber”] is used) as a place for storing grain, frankincense, temple vessels, wine, and oil (Neh 13:5). Cf. TEV “to the Temple.”

[2:13]  ³³ 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.

[1:11]  ³⁴ sn My name will be great among the nations. In what is clearly a strongly ironic shift of thought, the Lord contrasts the unbelief and virtual paganism of the postexilic community with the conversion and obedience of the nations that will one day worship the God of Israel.

[4:1]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.