3:10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse 3 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. 3:11 Then I will stop the plague 4 from ruining your crops, 5 and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the Lord who rules over all. 3:12 “All nations will call you happy, for you indeed will live in 6 a delightful land,” says the Lord who rules over all.
3:13 “You have criticized me sharply,” 7 says the Lord, “but you ask, ‘How have we criticized you?’ 3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped 8 by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? 9 3:15 So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. 10 In fact, those who challenge 11 God escape!’”
3:16 Then those who respected 12 the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. 13 A scroll 14 was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name. 3:17 “They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. 15 I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 3:18 Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between 16 the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.
1 tn Heb “cursed with a curse” that is, “under a curse” (so NIV, NLT, CEV).
2 tn The phrase “is guilty” is not present in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.
3 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.”
4 tn Heb “the eater” (אֹכֵל, ’okhel), a general term for any kind of threat to crops and livelihood. This is understood as a reference to a locust plague by a number of English versions: NAB, NRSV “the locust”; NIV “pests”; NCV, TEV “insects.”
5 tn Heb “and I will rebuke for you the eater and it will not ruin for you the fruit of the ground.”
6 tn Heb “will be” (so NAB, NRSV); TEV “your land will be a good place to live in.”
7 tn Heb “your words are hard [or “strong”] against me”; cf. NIV “said harsh things against me”; TEV, NLT “said terrible things about me.”
8 tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”
9 sn The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the
10 tn Heb “built up” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “prosper”; NLT “get rich.”
11 tn Or “test”; NRSV, CEV “put God to the test.”
12 tn Or “fear” (so NAB); NRSV “revered”; NCV “honored.”
13 tn Heb “heard and listened”; NAB “listened attentively.”
14 sn The scroll mentioned here is a “memory book” (סֵפֶר זִכָּרוֹן, sefer zikkaron) in which the
15 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
16 tn Heb “you will see between.” Cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT “see the difference.”