Malachi 1:2

1:2 “I have shown love to you,” says the Lord, but you say, “How have you shown love to us?”

“Esau was Jacob’s brother,” the Lord explains, “yet I chose Jacob

Malachi 1:7

1:7 You are offering improper sacrifices on my altar, yet you ask, ‘How have we offended you?’ By treating the table ¹  of the Lord as if it is of no importance!

Malachi 2:15

2:15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. ²  What did our ancestor ³  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. ⁴ 

Malachi 3:7

3:7 From the days of your ancestors you have ignored ⁵  my commandments ⁶  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 3:14

3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ⁷  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ⁸ 

[1:7]  ¹ sn The word table, here a synonym for “altar,” has overtones of covenant imagery in which a feast shared by the covenant partners was an important element (see Exod 24:11). It also draws attention to the analogy of sitting down at a common meal with the governor (v. 8).

[2:15]  ¹ 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).

[2:15]  ² 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).

[2:15]  ³ 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”).

[3:7]  ¹ tn Heb “turned aside from.”

[3:7]  ² tn Or “statutes” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “decrees”; NLT “laws.”

[3:14]  ¹ tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”

[3:14]  ² 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.