Discovery BoxMalachi 2:10
Context2:10 Do we not all have one father? 1 Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors?
Malachi 4:6
Context4:6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, 2 so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” 3
Malachi 1:6
Context1:6 “A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects 4 his master. If I am your 5 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 3:7
Context3:7 From the days of your ancestors you have ignored 6 my commandments 7 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 3:17
Context3:17 “They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. 8 I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
Malachi 3:5
Context3:5 “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.
[2:10] 1 sn The rhetorical question Do we not all have one father? by no means teaches the “universal fatherhood of God,” that is, that all people equally are children of God. The reference to the covenant in v. 10 as well as to Israel and Judah (v. 11) makes it clear that the referent of “we” is God’s elect people.
[4:6] 2 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
[4:6] 3 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] 3 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] 4 tn The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification (also a second time before “master” later in this verse).
[3:7] 4 tn Heb “turned aside from.”
[3:7] 5 tn Or “statutes” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “decrees”; NLT “laws.”
[3:17] 5 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
[3:5] 6 tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the
[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.”
