Malachi 2:4

2:4 Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant ¹  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 ²  instruction.”

Malachi 2:13

2:13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears ³  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, ⁴  like a launderer’s soap.

Malachi 3:11

3:11 Then I will stop the plague ⁵  from ruining your crops, ⁶  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 ⁷  I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. ⁸  4:5 Look, I will send you Elijah ⁹  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, ¹⁰  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ¹¹ 

[2:4]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “in the instruction” (so NASB). The Hebrew article is used here as a possessive pronoun (cf. NRSV, NLT).

[2:13]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “and I will rebuke for you the eater and it will not ruin for you the fruit of the ground.”

[4:4]  ⁶ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (cf. Exod 3:1).

[4:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “which I commanded him in Horeb concerning all Israel, statutes and ordinances.”

[4:5]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.