Malachi 3:11

3:11 Then I will stop the plague ¹  from ruining your crops, ²  and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 2:15-16

2:15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. ³  What did our ancestor ⁴  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. ⁵  2:16 “I hate divorce,” ⁶  says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” ⁷  says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”

Malachi 3:7

3:7 From the days of your ancestors you have ignored ⁸  my commandments ⁹  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 1:10

1:10 “I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ¹⁰  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.

Malachi 3:5

3:5 “I ¹¹  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, ¹²  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ¹³  who refuse to help ¹⁴  the immigrant ¹⁵  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

[3:11]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “and I will rebuke for you the eater and it will not ruin for you the fruit of the ground.”

[2:15]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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”).

[2:16]  ⁵ tc The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) appears to be a third person form, “he hates,” which makes little sense in the context, unless one emends the following word to a third person verb as well. Then one might translate, “he [who] hates [his wife] [and] divorces her…is guilty of violence.” A similar translation is advocated by M. A. Shields, “Syncretism and Divorce in Malachi 2,10-16,” ZAW 111 (1999): 81-85. However, it is possible that the first person pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) has accidentally dropped from the text after כִּי (ki). If one restores the pronoun, the form שָׂנֵא can be taken as a participle and the text translated, “for I hate” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[2:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “him who covers his garment with violence” (similar ASV, NRSV). Here “garment” is a metaphor for appearance and “violence” a metonymy of effect for cause. God views divorce as an act of violence against the victim.

[3:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “turned aside from.”

[3:7]  ⁸ tn Or “statutes” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “decrees”; NLT “laws.”

[1:10]  ⁹ 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.

[3:5]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”