Malachi 2:10

The Rebellion of the People

2:10 Do we not all have one father? ¹  Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors?

Malachi 3:7

3:7 From the days of your ancestors you have ignored ²  my commandments ³  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?’

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¹ 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 tn Heb “turned aside from.”

³ tn Or “statutes” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “decrees”; NLT “laws.”