Isaiah 46:12

46:12 Listen to me, you stubborn people,

you who distance yourself from doing what is right.

Isaiah 48:4

48:4 I did this because I know how stubborn you are.

Your neck muscles are like iron

and your forehead like bronze.

Proverbs 16:18

16:18 Pride goes before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Malachi 3:13

Resistance to the Lord through Self-sufficiency

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

Malachi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) “For indeed the day 10  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 11  will not leave even a root or branch.

Malachi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) 12  “For indeed the day 13  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 14  will not leave even a root or branch.

Malachi 1:5

1:5 Your eyes will see it, and then you will say, ‘May the Lord be magnified 15  even beyond the border of Israel!’”


tn Heb “strong of heart [or, mind]”; KJV “stouthearted”; NAB “fainthearted”; NIV “stubborn-hearted.”

tn Heb “who are far from righteousness [or perhaps, “deliverance”].”

tn The words “I did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 4 is subordinated to v. 3.

sn The image is that of a person who has tensed the muscles of the face and neck as a sign of resolute refusal.

sn The two lines of this proverb are synonymous parallelism, and so there are parasynonyms. “Pride” is paired with “haughty spirit” (“spirit” being a genitive of specification); and “destruction” is matched with “a tottering, falling.”

tn Heb “[is] before destruction.”

sn Many proverbs have been written in a similar way to warn against the inevitable disintegration and downfall of pride. W. McKane records an Arabic proverb: “The nose is in the heavens, the seat is in the mire” (Proverbs [OTL], 490).

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

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.

10 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.

11 tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

12 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.

13 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.

14 tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

15 tn Or “Great is the Lord” (so NAB; similar NIV, NRSV).