Malachi 3:16

3:16 Then those who respected ¹  the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. ²  A scroll ³  was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name.

Malachi 2:10

The Rebellion of the People

2:10 Do we not all have one father? ⁴  Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors?

Malachi 2:14

2:14 Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, ⁵  to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. ⁶ 

Malachi 1:11

1:11 For from the east to the west my name will be great among the nations. Incense and pure offerings will be offered in my name everywhere, for my name will be great among the nations,” ⁷  says the Lord who rules over all.

[3:16]  ¹ tn Or “fear” (so NAB); NRSV “revered”; NCV “honored.”

[3:16]  ² tn Heb “heard and listened”; NAB “listened attentively.”

[3:16]  ³ sn The scroll mentioned here is a “memory book” (סֵפֶר זִכָּרוֹן, sefer zikkaron) in which the Lord keeps an ongoing record of the names of all the redeemed (see Exod 32:32; Isa 4:3; Dan 12:1; Rev 20:12-15).

[2:10]  ⁴ 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.

[2:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “the Lord is a witness between you and [between] the wife of your youth.”

[2:14]  ⁸ sn Though there is no explicit reference to marriage vows in the OT (but see Job 7:13; Prov 2:17; Ezek 16:8), the term law (Heb “covenant”) here asserts that such vows or agreements must have existed. References to divorce documents (e.g., Deut 24:1-3; Jer 3:8) also presuppose the existence of marriage documents.

[1:11]  ¹⁰ sn My name will be great among the nations. In what is clearly a strongly ironic shift of thought, the Lord contrasts the unbelief and virtual paganism of the postexilic community with the conversion and obedience of the nations that will one day worship the God of Israel.