Malachi 2:6

2:6 He taught what was true; ¹  sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin.

Malachi 3:2

3:2 Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can keep standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, ²  like a launderer’s soap.

Malachi 3:14

3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ³  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ⁴ 

Malachi 3:16-17

3:16 Then those who respected ⁵  the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. ⁶  A scroll ⁷  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. ⁸  I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

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¹ tn Heb “True teaching was in his mouth”; cf. NASB, NRSV “True instruction (doctrine NAB) was in his mouth.”

² sn 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.

³ tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”

⁴ sn 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.

⁵ tn Or “fear” (so NAB); NRSV “revered”; NCV “honored.”

⁶ tn Heb “heard and listened”; NAB “listened attentively.”

⁷ 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).

⁸ sn The Hebrew word סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah, “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.