^2:1“Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. ^2:2If you do not listen and take seriously¹ the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment² on you and turn your blessings into curses—indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart. ^2:3I am about to discipline your children³ and will spread offal⁴ on your faces,⁵ the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it. ^2:4Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant⁶ may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all. ^2:5“My covenant with him was designed to bring life and peace. I gave its statutes to him to fill him with awe, and he indeed revered me and stood in awe before me. ^2:6He taught what was true;⁷ sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin. ^2:7For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him⁸ because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all. ^2:8You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law;⁹ you have corrupted the covenant with Levi,”¹⁰ says the Lord who rules over all. ^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 your¹¹ instruction.”

The Rebellion of the People

^2:10Do we not all have one father?¹² Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors? ^2:11Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem.¹³ For Judah has profaned¹⁴ the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god!¹⁵^2:12May the Lord cut off from the community¹⁶ of Jacob every last person who does this,¹⁷ as well as the person who presents improper offerings to the Lord who rules over all!

^2:13You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears¹⁸ as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you. ^2:14Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young,¹⁹ to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law.²⁰^2:15No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this.²¹ What did our ancestor²² 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.²³^2:16“I hate divorce,”²⁴ says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,”²⁵ says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”

Resistance to the Lord through Self-deceit

^2:17You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion,²⁶ and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?” ^3:1“I am about to send my messenger,¹ who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord² you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger³ of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

^3:2Who 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. ^3:3He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering. ^3:4The offerings⁵ of Judah and Jerusalem⁶ will be pleasing to the Lord as in former times and years past.

^3:5“I⁷ 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,⁸ and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans,⁹ who refuse to help¹⁰ the immigrant¹¹ and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Resistance to the Lord through Selfishness

^3:6“Since, I, the Lord, do not go back on my promises,¹² you, sons of Jacob, have not perished. ^3:7From the days of your ancestors you have ignored¹³ my commandments¹⁴ 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?’ ^3:8Can a person rob¹⁵ God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions!¹⁶^3:9You are bound for judgment¹⁷ because you are robbing me—this whole nation is guilty.¹⁸

^3:10“Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse¹⁹ so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all. ^3:11Then I will stop the plague²⁰ from ruining your crops,²¹ and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the Lord who rules over all. ^3:12“All nations will call you happy, for you indeed will live in²² a delightful land,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Resistance to the Lord through Self-sufficiency

^3:13“You have criticized me sharply,”²³ says the Lord, “but you ask, ‘How have we criticized you?’ ^3:14You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped²⁴ by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all?²⁵^3:15So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful.²⁶ In fact, those who challenge²⁷ God escape!’ ”

^3:16Then those who respected²⁸ the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice.²⁹ A scroll³⁰ was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name. ^3:17“They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property.³¹ I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. ^3:18Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between³² the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

1 Heb “and if you do not place upon [the] heart”; , , “lay it to heart.”
2 Heb “the curse” (so , ); “a terrible curse.”
3 The phrase “discipline your children” is disputed. The and suppose זְרוֹעַ (zéroa’, “arm”) for the זֶרַע (zera’, “seed”; hence, “children”). Then, for the 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. “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 here.
4 The Hebrew term פֶרֶשׁ (feresh, “offal”) refers to the entrails as ripped out in preparing a sacrificial victim ( 831 פֶּרֶשׁ). This graphic term has been variously translated: “dung” (, , , ); “refuse” (, ); “offal” (, ).
5 See Zech 3:3–4 for similar coarse imagery which reflects cultic disqualification.
6 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.
7 Heb “True teaching was in his mouth”; cf. , “True instruction (doctrine ) was in his mouth.”
8 Heb “from his mouth” (so , , ).
9 The definite article embedded within בַּתּוֹרָה (battorah) may suggest that the Torah is in mind and not just “ordinary” priestly instruction, though it might refer to the instruction previously mentioned (v. 7).
10 Or “the Levitical covenant.”
11 Heb “in the instruction” (so ). The Hebrew article is used here as a possessive pronoun (cf. , ).
12 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.
13 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
14 Or perhaps “secularized”; cf. “desecrated”; , “defiled”; “disgraced.”
15 Heb “has married the daughter of a foreign god.” Marriage is used here as a metaphor to describe Judah’s idolatry, that is, her unfaithfulness to the Lord and “remarriage” to pagan gods. But spiritual intermarriage found expression in literal, physical marriage as well, as vv. 14–16 indicate.
16 Heb “tents,” used figuratively for the community here (cf. , ); “the nation of Israel.”
17 Heb “every man who does this, him who is awake and him who answers.” For “answers” the 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 עֵר (’er, “awake”) be read as עֵד (’ed, “until”; here the reads ἕως, heōs). The reading of the is most likely an alteration to correct what is arguably a difficult text. 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” ( similar); “whoever he may be.”
18 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.
19 Heb “the Lord is a witness between you and [between] the wife of your youth.”
20 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.
21 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. ).
22 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).
23 The wife he took in his youth probably refers to the first wife one married (cf. “the wife you married when you were young”).
24 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,” 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 , , , ). Though the statement “I hate divorce” may (and should) be understood as a comprehensive biblical principle, the immediate context suggests that the divorce in view is that of one Jewish person by another in order to undertake subsequent marriages. The injunction here by no means contradicts Ezra’s commands to Jewish men to divorce their heathen wives (Ezra 9–10).
25 Heb “him who covers his garment with violence” (similar , ). 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.
26 Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”
1 In Hebrew the phrase “my messenger” is מַלְאָכִי (mal’akhi), the same form as the prophet’s name (see note on the name “Malachi” in ). However, here the messenger appears to be an eschatological figure who is about to appear, as the following context suggests. According to 4:5, this messenger is “Elijah the prophet,” whom the NT identifies as John the Baptist (Matt 11:10; Mark 1:2) because he came in the “spirit and power” of Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:11–12; Lk 1:17).
2 Here the Hebrew term הָאָדוֹן (ha’adon) is used, not יְהוָה (yéhvah, typically rendered Lord). Thus the focus is not on the Lord as the covenant God, but on his role as master.
3 This messenger of the covenant may be equated with my messenger (that is, Elijah) mentioned earlier in the verse, or with the Lord himself. In either case the messenger functions as an enforcer of the covenant. Note the following verses, which depict purifying judgment on a people that has violated the Lord’s covenant.
4 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.
5 Or “gift.”
6 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
7 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).
8 Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. “perjurers”; “those who give false testimony”; “liars.”
9 Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”
10 Heb “those who turn aside.”
11 Or “resident foreigner”; “aliens”; “the alien.”
12 Heb “do not change.” This refers to God’s ongoing commitment to his covenant promises to Israel.
13 Heb “turned aside from.”
14 Or “statutes” (so , , ); “decrees”; “laws.”
15 The presupposes an underlying Hebrew text of עָקַב (’aqav, “deceive”), a metathesis of קָבַע (qava’, “rob”), in all four uses of the verb here (vv. 8–9). The intent probably is to soften the impact of “robbing” God, but the language of the passage is intentionally bold and there is no reason to go against the reading of the (which is followed here by most English versions).
16 The tithes and contributions mentioned here are probably those used to sustain the Levites (see Num 18:8, 11, 19, 21–24).
17 Heb “cursed with a curse” that is, “under a curse” (so , , ).
18 The phrase “is guilty” is not present in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.
19 The Hebrew phrase בֵּית הָאוֹצָר (bet ha’otsar, here translated “storehouse”) refers to a kind of temple warehouse described more fully in Nehemiah (where the term לִשְׁכָּה גְדוֹלָה [lishkah gédolah, “great chamber”] is used) as a place for storing grain, frankincense, temple vessels, wine, and oil (Neh 13:5). Cf. “to the Temple.”
20 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: , “the locust”; “pests”; , “insects.”
21 Heb “and I will rebuke for you the eater and it will not ruin for you the fruit of the ground.”
22 Heb “will be” (so , ); “your land will be a good place to live in.”
23 Heb “your words are hard [or “strong”] against me”; cf. “said harsh things against me”; , “said terrible things about me.”
24 Heb “What [is the] profit”; “What did we gain.”
25 The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the Lord. The reason, of course, is that it was blatantly hypocritical.
26 Heb “built up” (so ); , “prosper”; “get rich.”
27 Or “test”; , “put God to the test.”
28 Or “fear” (so ); “revered”; “honored.”
29 Heb “heard and listened”; “listened attentively.”
30 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).
31 The Hebrew word סְגֻלָּה (ségullah, “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 Lord says here that he will not forget even one individual in the day of judgment and reward.
32 Heb “you will see between.” Cf. , , “see the difference.”