Malachi 3:7
5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
6 “Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’
8 Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’
- KJV
- Even 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?
- WEB
- From the days of your fathers you have turned away from my ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
- ASV
- From the days of your fathers ye have turned aside from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts. But ye say, Wherein shall we return?
- DARBY
- Since the days of your fathers have ye departed from my statutes, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts. But ye say, Wherein shall we return?
- BLB
- From the days of your⁺ fathers, you⁺ have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you⁺,” says YHWH of Hosts. “And you⁺ say, ‘In what way can we return?’
- ÅB
- Like fra deres fedres dager har dere veket av fra mine lover og ikke holdt dem; vend om til meg, så vil jeg vende om til dere, sier Herren, hærskarenes Gud. Og dere sier: Hva skal vi vende om fra?
- OTB
- Fra deres fedres dager har dere vendt dere bort fra mine forskrifter og ikke holdt dem. Vend tilbake til meg, så vil jeg vende tilbake til dere," sier Herren, hærskarenes Gud. "Men dere sier: 'Hvordan skal vi vende tilbake?'
- B1930
- Like fra eders fedres dager har I veket av fra mine lover og ikke holdt dem; vend om til mig, så vil jeg vende om til eder, sier Herren, hærskarenes Gud. Og I sier: Hvad skal vi vende om fra?
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Zechariah 1:3
So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’
Read in contextRomans 10:21
But as for Israel he says: “All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
Read in contextJames 4:8
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Read in contextRomans 10:3
Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
Read in contextDeuteronomy 31:20
When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.
Read in contextHosea 14:1
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
Read in contextJeremiah 3:12–14
Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.
Read in contextNehemiah 9:28–30
But as soon as they had rest, they again did evil in Your sight. So You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, who had dominion over them. When they cried out to You again, You heard from heaven, and You delivered them many times in Your compassion.
Read in context