Maleakhi 3:10

3:10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ¹  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 1:9

1:9 But now plead for God’s favor ²  that he might be gracious to us. ³  “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 4:6

4:6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, ⁴  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ⁵ 

Maleakhi 2:4

2:4 Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant ⁶  may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 3:11

3:11 Then I will stop the plague ⁷  from ruining your crops, ⁸  and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the Lord who rules over all.

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 3:3-4

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. 3:4 The offerings ⁹  of Judah and Jerusalem ¹⁰  will be pleasing to the Lord as in former times and years past.

Maleakhi 1:10

1:10 “I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ¹¹  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 2:7

2:7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him ¹²  because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 2:16

2:16 “I hate divorce,” ¹³  says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” ¹⁴  says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”

Maleakhi 2:2

2:2 If you do not listen and take seriously ¹⁵  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ¹⁶  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

Maleakhi 2:15

2:15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. ¹⁷  What did our ancestor ¹⁸  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. ¹⁹ 

Maleakhi 3:1

3:1 “I am about to send my messenger, ²⁰  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ²¹  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ²²  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 3:5

3:5 “I ²³  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, ²⁴  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ²⁵  who refuse to help ²⁶  the immigrant ²⁷  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

[3:10]  ¹ 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.”

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “seek the face of God.”

[1:9]  ³ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunction indicates purpose (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[4:6]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.

[2:4]  ⁶ 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.

[3:11]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “and I will rebuke for you the eater and it will not ruin for you the fruit of the ground.”

[3:4]  ⁹ tn Or “gift.”

[3:4]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:10]  ¹¹ 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.

[2:7]  ¹² tn Heb “from his mouth” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[2:16]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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.

[2:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and if you do not place upon [the] heart”; KJV, NAB, NRSV “lay it to heart.”

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the curse” (so NASB, NRSV); NLT “a terrible curse.”

[2:15]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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”).

[3:1]  ²⁰ tn In Hebrew the phrase “my messenger” is מַלְאָכִי (mal’akhi), the same form as the prophet’s name (see note on the name “Malachi” in 1:1). However, here the messenger appears to be an eschatological figure who is about to appear, as the following context suggests. According to 4:5, this messenger is “Elijah the prophet,” whom the NT identifies as John the Baptist (Matt 11:10; Mark 1:2) because he came in the “spirit and power” of Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:11-12; Lk 1:17).

[3:1]  ²¹ tn Here the Hebrew term הָאָדוֹן (ha’adon) is used, not יְהוָה (yÿhvah, typically rendered Lord). Thus the focus is not on the Lord as the covenant God, but on his role as master.

[3:1]  ²² sn This messenger of the covenant may be equated with my messenger (that is, Elijah) mentioned earlier in the verse, or with the Lord himself. In either case the messenger functions as an enforcer of the covenant. Note the following verses, which depict purifying judgment on a people that has violated the Lord’s covenant.

[3:5]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ²⁷ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”