Malachi 3:8

3:8 Can a person rob ¹  God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions! ² 

Malachi 3:15

3:15 So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. ³  In fact, those who challenge ⁴  God escape!’”

Malachi 3:18

3:18 Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between ⁵  the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.

Malachi 2:15

2:15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. ⁶  What did our ancestor ⁷  do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth. ⁸ 

Malachi 3:14

3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ⁹  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ¹⁰ 

¹ 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).

² sn The tithes and contributions mentioned here are probably those used to sustain the Levites (see Num 18:8, 11, 19, 21-24).

³ tn Heb “built up” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “prosper”; NLT “get rich.”

⁴ tn Or “test”; NRSV, CEV “put God to the test.”

⁵ tn Heb “you will see between.” Cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT “see the difference.”

⁷ tn Heb “and not one has done, and a remnant of the spirit to him.” The very elliptical nature of the statement suggests it is proverbial. The present translation represents an attempt to clarify the meaning of the statement (cf. NASB).

⁸ tn Heb “the one.” This is an oblique reference to Abraham who sought to obtain God’s blessing by circumventing God’s own plan for him by taking Hagar as wife (Gen 16:1-6). The result of this kind of intermarriage was, of course, disastrous (Gen 16:11-12).

⁹ sn The wife he took in his youth probably refers to the first wife one married (cf. NCV “the wife you married when you were young”).

⁹ tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”

¹⁰ 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.