Malachi 2:1

The Sacrilege of the Priestly Message

2:1 “Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.

Malachi 3:15

3:15 So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. ¹  In fact, those who challenge ²  God escape!’”

Malachi 1:9

1:9 But now plead for God’s favor ³  that he might be gracious to us. ⁴  “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 3:10

3:10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ⁵  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 1:8

1:8 For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, ⁶  is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them ⁷  to your governor! Will he be pleased with you ⁸  or show you favor?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 3:7

3:7 From the days of your ancestors you have ignored ⁹  my commandments ¹⁰  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?’

Malachi 2:2

2:2 If you do not listen and take seriously ¹¹  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ¹²  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

¹ tn Heb “built up” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “prosper”; NLT “get rich.”

² tn Or “test”; NRSV, CEV “put God to the test.”

¹ tn Heb “seek the face of God.”

² tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunction indicates purpose (cf. NASB, NRSV).

¹ 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.”

¹ sn Offerings of animals that were lame or sick were strictly forbidden by the Mosaic law (see Deut 15:21).

² tn Heb “it” (so NAB, NASB). Contemporary English more naturally uses a plural pronoun to agree with “the lame and sick” in the previous question (cf. NIV, NCV).

³ tc The LXX and Vulgate read “with it” (which in Hebrew would be הֲיִרְצֵהוּ, hayirtsehu, a reading followed by NAB) rather than “with you” of the MT (הֲיִרְצְךָ, hayirtsÿkha). The MT (followed here by most English versions) is to be preferred because of the parallel with the following phrase פָנֶיךָ (fanekha, “receive you,” which the present translation renders as “show you favor”).

¹ tn Heb “turned aside from.”

² tn Or “statutes” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “decrees”; NLT “laws.”

¹ tn Heb “and if you do not place upon [the] heart”; KJV, NAB, NRSV “lay it to heart.”

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