Malachi 3

God says: Look, I am going to send my messenger, and he will get the road ready ahead of me. Then the Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to his temple. He is the messenger of the covenant, God's binding agreement, and you are glad about him. Look, he is coming, says the LORD of Heaven's Armies.

1Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

NoteIn the King James Version, "LORD" printed in capitals stands in for God's personal name in Hebrew, which the translators did not spell out; "LORD of hosts" means something like commander of the armies of heaven. The Hebrew word for "messenger" here is the ordinary word for someone sent with a message, and is also the word translated "angel" elsewhere. It is the same word that gives the prophet his name: Malachi means "my messenger." A covenant was a formal, binding agreement, of the kind kings made with nations and with each other, setting out obligations on both sides.

2But who can survive the day he comes? Who can stay standing when he shows up? He is like the fire a metalworker uses to burn the junk out of metal, and like the strong soap used to scrub cloth clean.

2But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:

NoteA "fuller" was a tradesman who finished and cleaned cloth, trampling and beating it in a solution made from plant ash or lye, far harsher than modern soap. Both pictures, the smelting furnace and the fuller's tub, are about violent cleaning, not gentle washing.

3He will sit down like a worker who melts silver to make it pure. He will make the sons of Levi pure and clean them the way gold and silver are cleaned. Then they will bring offerings to the LORD in the right way.

3And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

NoteLevi was one of Jacob's twelve sons; his descendants were the tribe assigned to work at the temple, with the priests drawn from among them. Refining silver meant melting it so the impurities rose to the surface to be skimmed off, with the worker sitting over the crucible watching until the metal was clean.

4Then the offerings from Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, the way they did long ago, in years gone by.

4Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

Note"Judah" is the territory around Jerusalem, the surviving part of the old kingdom, by this time a small province under Persian rule. "The days of old" points back to the period before the exile to Babylon.

5God says: Then I will come close to you to judge you. I will be quick to testify against those who practice magic, against those who are unfaithful in marriage, and against those who lie under oath. I will testify against those who cheat workers out of their pay, against those who take advantage of widows and children without fathers, and against those who deny justice to the foreigner and have no respect for me, says the LORD of Heaven's Armies.

5And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

NoteThis is courtroom language: God appears as the witness for the prosecution rather than waiting to be called. A "hireling" was a day laborer with no land of his own, paid at the end of each day; Israelite law required his wages be handed over before nightfall. Widows, fatherless children, and resident foreigners are named together because all three lacked a male relative or landholding to defend them in a dispute.

6I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob have not been wiped out.

6For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Note"Sons of Jacob" means the nation descended from Jacob, the ancestor also called Israel, not the literal sons of one man.

7Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my rules and have not kept them. Come back to me, and I will come back to you, says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. But you ask, How are we supposed to come back?

7Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

8Would a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you ask, How are we robbing you? In your tithes and offerings.

8Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

NoteThe tithe was a tenth of the year's grain, wine, oil, and livestock, owed as the support of the Levites and priests, who held no farmland. "Offerings" were the further portions of sacrifices and produce set aside for the temple staff. Withholding them left the temple personnel without income, which is why it is called robbery.

9You are under a curse, because you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

9Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

NoteThe "curse" is the penalty clause of the agreement between God and Israel: crop failure, drought, and blight were the listed consequences of breaking it. The wording assumes a reader who knows those terms were spelled out in advance.

10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so there is food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, and see whether I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out on you a blessing so large there is not room enough to hold it.

10Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

NoteThe "storehouse" was a set of rooms in the temple complex where tithed grain, wine, and oil were kept and distributed. In 1611 English "meat" meant food of any kind, not flesh specifically, and "prove" meant to test or put to the proof. "The windows of heaven" pictures the sky as having hatches that are opened to let rain through, the same image used of the flood in Genesis.

11I will stop the pest that eats your crops, so it will not ruin the food your land grows. Your vines in the field will not drop their fruit before it is ripe, says the LORD of Heaven's Armies.

11And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

Note"The devourer" translates a Hebrew word meaning simply "the eater," generally understood as locusts or similar crop pests. A vine "casting her fruit" is one that drops its grapes while they are still unripe.

12Then all the nations will say you are blessed, because your land will be a delight, says the LORD of Heaven's Armies.

12And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

13Your words against me have been harsh, says the LORD. Yet you ask, What have we said against you?

13Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

Note"Stout" in 1611 English meant hard, defiant, or arrogant, not sturdy or brave.

14You have said, Serving God is a waste of time. What did we gain by keeping his rules and by walking around in mourning clothes before the LORD of Heaven's Armies?

14Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?

Note"Walked mournfully" describes going about in the dress and manner of mourners, fasting, wearing sackcloth, putting dust or ashes on the head. The complaint is that they performed public acts of penitence and got nothing for it.

15So now we say the proud are the lucky ones. People who do evil get ahead, and people who put God to the test get away with it.

15And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

NoteIn 1611 English "happy" meant fortunate or well off, not cheerful, and to "tempt" God meant to test him or push to see what he would allow, not to entice him. "Set up" means built up, prospering.

16Then the people who respected the LORD talked with each other again and again. The LORD paid attention and heard them. A book of remembrance was written in his presence, listing those who respected the LORD and thought carefully about his name.

16Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

NotePersian and other ancient kings kept official daybooks recording loyal service, to be repaid later; the book of Esther turns on one. "A book of remembrance" borrows that court practice.

17They will belong to me, says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, on the day when I gather up my treasured ones. I will go easy on them, the way a man goes easy on his own son who serves him.

17And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

Note"Jewels" translates a Hebrew word for a king's private treasure, the property he held personally, as distinct from the holdings of the state. The phrase "make up" means to gather or set aside.

18Then you will once again see the difference between a person who does right and a person who does wrong, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.

18Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.