Malachi 1:6

The Sacrilege of Priestly Service

1:6 “A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects ¹  his master. If I am your ²  father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The Lord who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, ‘How have we made light of your name?’

Malachi 1:10-11

1:10 “I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ³  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. 1:11 For from the east to the west my name will be great among the nations. Incense and pure offerings will be offered in my name everywhere, for my name will be great among the nations,” ⁴  says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 1:14

1:14 “There will be harsh condemnation for the hypocrite who has a valuable male animal in his flock but vows and sacrifices something inferior to the Lord. For I am a great king,” ⁵  says the Lord who rules over all, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

Malachi 2:2

2:2 If you do not listen and take seriously ⁶  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ⁷  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

Malachi 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, ⁸  to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. ⁹ 

Malachi 3:1

3:1 “I am about to send my messenger, ¹⁰  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ¹¹  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ¹²  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 3:5

3:5 “I ¹³  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, ¹⁴  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ¹⁵  who refuse to help ¹⁶  the immigrant ¹⁷  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 3:10

3:10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ¹⁸  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.

Malachi 3:17

3:17 “They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. ¹⁹  I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

¹ tn The verb “respects” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. It is understood by ellipsis (see “honors” in the preceding line).

² tn The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification (also a second time before “master” later in this verse).

³ 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.

⁵ sn My name will be great among the nations. In what is clearly a strongly ironic shift of thought, the Lord contrasts the unbelief and virtual paganism of the postexilic community with the conversion and obedience of the nations that will one day worship the God of Israel.

⁷ sn The epithet great king was used to describe the Hittite rulers on their covenant documents and so, in the covenant ideology of Malachi, is an apt description of the Lord.

⁹ tn Heb “and if you do not place upon [the] heart”; KJV, NAB, NRSV “lay it to heart.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the curse” (so NASB, NRSV); NLT “a terrible curse.”

¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord is a witness between you and [between] the wife of your youth.”

¹² 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.

¹³ 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).

¹⁴ 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.

¹⁵ 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.

¹⁵ 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).

¹⁶ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

¹⁹ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”

¹⁷ 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.”

¹⁹ sn The Hebrew word סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah, “special property”) is a technical term referring to all the recipients of God’s redemptive grace, especially Israel (Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18). The Lord says here that he will not forget even one individual in the day of judgment and reward.