Malachi 1:3

1:3 and rejected Esau. ¹  I turned Esau’s ²  mountains into a deserted wasteland ³  and gave his territory ⁴  to the wild jackals.”

Malachi 1:13

1:13 You also say, ‘How tiresome it is.’ You turn up your nose at it,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and instead bring what is stolen, lame, or sick. You bring these things for an offering! Should I accept this from you?” ⁵  asks the Lord.

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 2:3

2:3 I am about to discipline your children ⁶  and will spread offal ⁷  on your faces, ⁸  the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.

Malachi 3:3

3:3 He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering.

Malachi 3:9

3:9 You are bound for judgment ⁹  because you are robbing me – this whole nation is guilty. ¹⁰ 

Malachi 1:12

1:12 “But you are profaning it by saying that the table of the Lord is common and its offerings ¹¹  despicable.

Malachi 3:8

3:8 Can a person rob ¹²  God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions! ¹³ 

Malachi 3:12

3:12 “All nations will call you happy, for you indeed will live in ¹⁴  a delightful land,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 2:2

2:2 If you do not listen and take seriously ¹⁵  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ¹⁶  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

Malachi 3:10

3:10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ¹⁷  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 2:4

2:4 Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant ¹⁸  may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 2:9

2:9 “Therefore, I have caused you to be ignored and belittled before all people to the extent to which you are not following after me and are showing partiality in your ¹⁹  instruction.”

Malachi 2:13

2:13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears ²⁰  as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you.

Malachi 3:2

3:2 Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can keep standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, ²¹  like a launderer’s soap.

Malachi 3:11

3:11 Then I will stop the plague ²²  from ruining your crops, ²³  and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 4:4-6

Restoration through the Lord

4:4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb ²⁴  I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. ²⁵  4:5 Look, I will send you Elijah ²⁶  the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. 4:6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, ²⁷  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ²⁸ 

Malachi 1:6

The Sacrilege of Priestly Service

1:6 “A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects ²⁹  his master. If I am your ³⁰  father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The Lord who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, ‘How have we made light of your name?’

Malachi 3:17

3:17 “They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. ³¹  I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

Malachi 4:1

4:1 (3:19) ³²  “For indeed the day ³³  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 ³⁴  will not leave even a root or branch.

[1:3]  ¹ tn Heb “and I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated.” The context indicates this is technical covenant vocabulary in which “love” and “hate” are synonymous with “choose” and “reject” respectively (see Deut 7:8; Jer 31:3; Hos 3:1; 9:15; 11:1).

[1:3]  ² tn Heb “his”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:3]  ³ tn Heb “I set his mountains as a desolation.”

[1:3]  ⁴ tn Or “inheritance” (so NIV, NLT).

[1:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “from your hand,” a metonymy of part (the hand) for whole (the person).

[2:3]  ⁹ tc The phrase “discipline your children” is disputed. The LXX and Vulgate suppose זְרוֹעַ (zÿroa’, “arm”) for the MT זֶרַע (zera’, “seed”; hence, “children”). Then, for the MT גֹעֵר (go’er, “rebuking”) the same versions suggest גָּרַע (gara’, “take away”). The resulting translation is “I am about to take away your arm” (cf. NAB “deprive you of the shoulder”). However, this reading is unlikely. It is common for a curse (v. 2) to fall on offspring (see, e.g., Deut 28:18, 32, 41, 53, 55, 57), but a curse never takes the form of a broken or amputated arm. It is preferable to retain the reading of the MT here.

[2:3]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term פֶרֶשׁ (feresh, “offal”) refers to the entrails as ripped out in preparing a sacrificial victim (BDB 831 s.v. פֶּרֶשׁ). This graphic term has been variously translated: “dung” (KJV, RSV, NRSV, NLT); “refuse” (NKJV, NASB); “offal” (NEB, NIV).

[2:3]  ¹¹ sn See Zech 3:3-4 for similar coarse imagery which reflects cultic disqualification.

[3:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “cursed with a curse” that is, “under a curse” (so NIV, NLT, CEV).

[3:9]  ¹⁴ 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.

[1:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “fruit.” The following word “food” in the Hebrew text (אָכְלוֹ, ’okhlo) appears to be an explanatory gloss to clarify the meaning of the rare word נִיב (niv, “fruit”; see Isa 57:19 Qere; נוֹב, nov, “fruit,” in Kethib). Cf. ASV “the fruit thereof, even its food.” In this cultic context the reference is to the offerings on the altar.

[3:8]  ²¹ 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).

[3:8]  ²² sn The tithes and contributions mentioned here are probably those used to sustain the Levites (see Num 18:8, 11, 19, 21-24).

[3:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “will be” (so NAB, NRSV); TEV “your land will be a good place to live in.”

[2:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and if you do not place upon [the] heart”; KJV, NAB, NRSV “lay it to heart.”

[2:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the curse” (so NASB, NRSV); NLT “a terrible curse.”

[3:10]  ³³ 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.”

[2:4]  ³⁷ sn My covenant refers to the priestly covenant through Aaron and his grandson Phinehas (see Exod 6:16-20; Num 25:10-13; Jer 33:21-22). The point here is to contrast the priestly ideal with the disgraceful manner in which it was being carried out in postexilic times.

[2:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “in the instruction” (so NASB). The Hebrew article is used here as a possessive pronoun (cf. NRSV, NLT).

[2:13]  ⁴⁵ sn You cover the altar of the Lord with tears. These tears are the false tears of hypocrisy, not genuine tears of repentance. The people weep because the Lord will not hear them, not because of their sin.

[3:2]  ⁴⁹ sn The refiner’s fire was used to purify metal and refine it by melting it and allowing the dross, which floated to the top, to be scooped off.

[3:11]  ⁵³ 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.”

[3:11]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “and I will rebuke for you the eater and it will not ruin for you the fruit of the ground.”

[4:4]  ⁵⁷ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (cf. Exod 3:1).

[4:4]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “which I commanded him in Horeb concerning all Israel, statutes and ordinances.”

[4:5]  ⁶¹ sn I will send you Elijah the prophet. In light of the ascension of Elijah to heaven without dying (2 Kgs 2:11), Judaism has always awaited his return as an aspect of the messianic age (see, e.g., John 1:19-28). Jesus identified John the Baptist as Elijah, because he came in the “spirit and power” of his prototype Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36).

[4:6]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “he will turn the heart[s] of [the] fathers to [the] sons, and the heart[s] of [the] sons to their fathers.” This may mean that the messenger will encourage reconciliation of conflicts within Jewish families in the postexilic community (see Mal 2:10; this interpretation is followed by most English versions). Another option is to translate, “he will turn the hearts of the fathers together with those of the children [to me], and the hearts of the children together with those of their fathers [to me].” In this case the prophet encourages both the younger and older generations of sinful society to repent and return to the Lord (cf. Mal 3:7). This option is preferred in the present translation; see Beth Glazier-McDonald, Malachi (SBLDS), 256.

[4:6]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “[the] ban” (חֵרֶם, kherem). God’s prophetic messenger seeks to bring about salvation and restoration, thus avoiding the imposition of the covenant curse, that is, the divine ban that the hopelessly unrepentant must expect (see Deut 7:2; 20:17; Judg 1:21; Zech 14:11). If the wicked repent, the purifying judgment threatened in 4:1-3 will be unnecessary.

[1:6]  ⁶⁹ tn The verb “respects” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. It is understood by ellipsis (see “honors” in the preceding line).

[1:6]  ⁷⁰ tn The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification (also a second time before “master” later in this verse).

[3:17]  ⁷³ 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 Lord says here that he will not forget even one individual in the day of judgment and reward.

[4:1]  ⁷⁷ 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]  ⁷⁸ 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]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.