Discovery BoxMalachi 1:4 
Context1:4 Edom 1 says, “Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places.” So the Lord who rules over all 2 responds, “They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as 3 the land of evil, the people with whom the Lord is permanently displeased.
Malachi 1:8
Context1:8 For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, 4 is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them 5 to your governor! Will he be pleased with you 6 or show you favor?” asks the Lord who rules over all.
Malachi 1:14
Context1:14 “There will be harsh condemnation for the hypocrite who has a valuable male animal in his flock but vows and sacrifices something inferior to the Lord. For I am a great king,” 7 says the Lord who rules over all, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”
Malachi 3:1
Context3:1 “I am about to send my messenger, 8 who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord 9 you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger 10 of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.
Malachi 3:7
Context3:7 From the days of your ancestors you have ignored 11 my commandments 12 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?’
1 sn Edom, a “brother” nation to Israel, became almost paradigmatic of hostility toward Israel and God (see Num 20:14-21; Deut 2:8; Jer 49:7-22; Ezek 25:12-14; Amos 1:11-12; Obad 10-12).
2 sn The epithet
3 tn Heb “and they will call them.” The third person plural subject is indefinite; one could translate, “and people will call them.”
4 sn Offerings of animals that were lame or sick were strictly forbidden by the Mosaic law (see Deut 15:21).
5 tn Heb “it” (so NAB, NASB). Contemporary English more naturally uses a plural pronoun to agree with “the lame and sick” in the previous question (cf. NIV, NCV).
6 tc The LXX and Vulgate read “with it” (which in Hebrew would be הֲיִרְצֵהוּ, hayirtsehu, a reading followed by NAB) rather than “with you” of the MT (הֲיִרְצְךָ, hayirtsÿkha). The MT (followed here by most English versions) is to be preferred because of the parallel with the following phrase פָנֶיךָ (fanekha, “receive you,” which the present translation renders as “show you favor”).
7 sn The epithet great king was used to describe the Hittite rulers on their covenant documents and so, in the covenant ideology of Malachi, is an apt description of the
8 tn 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 1:1). 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).
9 tn Here the Hebrew term הָאָדוֹן (ha’adon) is used, not יְהוָה (yÿhvah, typically rendered
10 sn 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.
11 tn Heb “turned aside from.”
12 tn Or “statutes” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “decrees”; NLT “laws.”
