Maleakhi 3:6

Resistance to the Lord through Selfishness

3:6 “Since, I, the Lord, do not go back on my promises, ¹  you, sons of Jacob, have not perished.

Maleakhi 3:11

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

Maleakhi 2:3

2:3 I am about to discipline your children ⁴  and will spread offal ⁵  on your faces, ⁶  the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.

Maleakhi 1:3

1:3 and rejected Esau. ⁷  I turned Esau’s ⁸  mountains into a deserted wasteland ⁹  and gave his territory ¹⁰  to the wild jackals.”

Maleakhi 2:12

2:12 May the Lord cut off from the community ¹¹  of Jacob every last person who does this, ¹²  as well as the person who presents improper offerings to the Lord who rules over all!

Maleakhi 4:6

4:6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, ¹³  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ¹⁴ 

[3:6]  ¹ tn Heb “do not change.” This refers to God’s ongoing commitment to his covenant promises to Israel.

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

[2:3]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ sn See Zech 3:3-4 for similar coarse imagery which reflects cultic disqualification.

[1:3]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “I set his mountains as a desolation.”

[1:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “inheritance” (so NIV, NLT).

[2:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “tents,” used figuratively for the community here (cf. NCV, TEV); NLT “the nation of Israel.”

[2:12]  ¹² tc Heb “every man who does this, him who is awake and him who answers.” For “answers” the LXX suggests an underlying Hebrew text of עָנָה (’anah, “to be humbled”), and then the whole phrase is modified slightly: “until he is humbled.” This requires also that the MT עֵר (’er, “awake”) be read as עֵד (’ed, “until”; here the LXX reads ἕως, Jews). The reading of the LXX is most likely an alteration to correct what is arguably a difficult text.

[2:12]  tn Heb “every man who does this, him who is awake and him who answers.” The idea seems to be a merism expressing totality, that is, everybody from the awakener to the awakened, thus “every last person who does this” (NLT similar); NIV “whoever he may be.”

[4:6]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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.