Maleakhi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) ¹  “For indeed the day ²  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 ³  will not leave even a root or branch.

Maleakhi 2:8

2:8 You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law; ⁴  you have corrupted the covenant with Levi,” ⁵  says the Lord who rules over all.

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, ⁶  to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. ⁷ 

Maleakhi 3:7

3:7 From the days of your ancestors you have ignored ⁸  my commandments ⁹  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?’

[4:1]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[2:8]  ⁴ tn The definite article embedded within בַּתּוֹרָה (battorah) may suggest that the Torah is in mind and not just “ordinary” priestly instruction, though it might refer to the instruction previously mentioned (v. 7).

[2:8]  ⁵ tn Or “the Levitical covenant.”

[2:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord is a witness between you and [between] the wife of your youth.”

[2:14]  ⁷ 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.

[3:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “turned aside from.”

[3:7]  ⁹ tn Or “statutes” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “decrees”; NLT “laws.”