Maleakhi 4:6

4:6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, ¹  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ² 

Maleakhi 2:2

2:2 If you do not listen and take seriously ³  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ⁴  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

Maleakhi 1:12

1:12 “But you are profaning it by saying that the table of the Lord is common and its offerings ⁵  despicable.

Maleakhi 1:7

1:7 You are offering improper sacrifices on my altar, yet you ask, ‘How have we offended you?’ By treating the table ⁶  of the Lord as if it is of no importance!

Maleakhi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) ⁷  “For indeed the day ⁸  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 ⁹  will not leave even a root or branch.

Maleakhi 1:9

1:9 But now plead for God’s favor ¹⁰  that he might be gracious to us. ¹¹  “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Maleakhi 2:6

2:6 He taught what was true; ¹²  sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin.

Maleakhi 3:16

3:16 Then those who respected ¹³  the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. ¹⁴  A scroll ¹⁵  was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name.

Maleakhi 3:4

3:4 The offerings ¹⁶  of Judah and Jerusalem ¹⁷  will be pleasing to the Lord as in former times and years past.

Maleakhi 3:13-14

Resistance to the Lord through Self-sufficiency

3:13 “You have criticized me sharply,” ¹⁸  says the Lord, “but you ask, ‘How have we criticized you?’ 3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ¹⁹  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ²⁰ 

Maleakhi 2:3

2:3 I am about to discipline your children ²¹  and will spread offal ²²  on your faces, ²³  the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.

Maleakhi 2:13

2:13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears ²⁴  as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you.

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, ²⁵  and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”

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.

[4:6]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[2:2]  ³ tn Heb “and if you do not place upon [the] heart”; KJV, NAB, NRSV “lay it to heart.”

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the curse” (so NASB, NRSV); NLT “a terrible curse.”

[1:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “fruit.” The following word “food” in the Hebrew text (אָכְלוֹ, ’okhlo) appears to be an explanatory gloss to clarify the meaning of the rare word נִיב (niv, “fruit”; see Isa 57:19 Qere; נוֹב, nov, “fruit,” in Kethib). Cf. ASV “the fruit thereof, even its food.” In this cultic context the reference is to the offerings on the altar.

[1:7]  ⁶ sn The word table, here a synonym for “altar,” has overtones of covenant imagery in which a feast shared by the covenant partners was an important element (see Exod 24:11). It also draws attention to the analogy of sitting down at a common meal with the governor (v. 8).

[4:1]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[1:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “seek the face of God.”

[1:9]  ¹¹ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunction indicates purpose (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[2:6]  ¹² tn Heb “True teaching was in his mouth”; cf. NASB, NRSV “True instruction (doctrine NAB) was in his mouth.”

[3:16]  ¹³ tn Or “fear” (so NAB); NRSV “revered”; NCV “honored.”

[3:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “heard and listened”; NAB “listened attentively.”

[3:16]  ¹⁵ 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).

[3:4]  ¹⁶ tn Or “gift.”

[3:4]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your words are hard [or “strong”] against me”; cf. NIV “said harsh things against me”; TEV, NLT “said terrible things about me.”

[3:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”

[3:14]  ²⁰ sn The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the Lord. The reason, of course, is that it was blatantly hypocritical.

[2:3]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ sn See Zech 3:3-4 for similar coarse imagery which reflects cultic disqualification.

[2:13]  ²⁴ 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.

[2:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”