Malachi 1:10-11

1:10 “I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ¹  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,” ²  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,” ³  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 ⁴  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ⁵  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

Malachi 3:1

3:1 “I am about to send my messenger, ⁶  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ⁷  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ⁸  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 3:5

3:5 “I ⁹  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, ¹⁰  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ¹¹  who refuse to help ¹²  the immigrant ¹³  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 ¹⁴  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 4:1

4:1 (3:19) ¹⁵  “For indeed the day ¹⁶  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 ¹⁷  will not leave even a root or branch.

[1:10]  ¹ 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.

[1:11]  ² 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.

[1:14]  ³ 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.

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and if you do not place upon [the] heart”; KJV, NAB, NRSV “lay it to heart.”

[2:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the curse” (so NASB, NRSV); NLT “a terrible curse.”

[3:1]  ⁵ 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).

[3:1]  ⁶ 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.

[3:1]  ⁷ 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.

[3:5]  ⁶ 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).

[3:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”

[3:10]  ⁷ 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.”

[4:1]  ⁸ 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.

[4:1]  ⁹ 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.

[4:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.