Ezekiel 12:9

12:9 “Son of man, has not the house of Israel, that rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’

Ezekiel 17:12

17:12 “Say to the rebellious house of Israel: ¹  ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ ²  Say: ‘See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem ³  and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon.

Ezekiel 20:49

20:49 Then I said, “O sovereign Lord! They are saying of me, ‘Does he not simply speak in eloquent figures of speech?’”

Ezekiel 21:7

21:7 When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will reply, ‘Because of the report that has come. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand will be limp; everyone ⁴  will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.’ ⁵  Pay attention – it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign Lord.”

Ezekiel 37:18

37:18 When your people ⁶  say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what these things mean?’

Malachi 3:7-8

3:7 From the days of your ancestors you have ignored ⁷  my commandments ⁸  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?’ 3:8 Can a person rob ⁹  God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions! ¹⁰ 

Malachi 3:13

Resistance to the Lord through Self-sufficiency

3:13 “You have criticized me sharply,” ¹¹  says the Lord, “but you ask, ‘How have we criticized you?’

¹ tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.

² sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.

³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁴ tn Heb “every spirit will be dim.”

⁵ sn This expression depicts in a very vivid way how they will be overcome with fear. See the note on the same phrase in 7:17.

⁶ tn Heb “the sons of your people.”

⁷ tn Heb “turned aside from.”

⁸ tn Or “statutes” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “decrees”; NLT “laws.”

⁹ tc The LXX presupposes an underlying Hebrew text of עָקַב (’aqav, “deceive”), a metathesis of קָבַע (qava’, “rob”), in all four uses of the verb here (vv. 8-9). The intent probably is to soften the impact of “robbing” God, but the language of the passage is intentionally bold and there is no reason to go against the reading of the MT (which is followed here by most English versions).

¹⁰ sn The tithes and contributions mentioned here are probably those used to sustain the Levites (see Num 18:8, 11, 19, 21-24).

¹¹ tn Heb “your words are hard [or “strong”] against me”; cf. NIV “said harsh things against me”; TEV, NLT “said terrible things about me.”