Malachi 3:15

Malachi 3:15 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
• New International Version (NIV)But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ”
• English Standard Version (ESV)And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.'"
• New King James Version (NKJV)So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.’ ”

Context of Malachi 3:15

13“Your words against me are harsh,” says the Lord. Yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?” 14You have said, “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping his requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of Armies? So now we consider the arrogant to be fortunate. Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test God and escape.” 16At that time those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. The Lord took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the Lord and had high regard for his name. 17“They will be mine,” says the Lord of Armies, “my own possession on the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.

Malachi 3:15 word by word

וְעַתָּ֕ה אֲנַ֖חְנוּ מְאַשְּׁרִ֣ים זֵדִ֑ים גַּם־נִבְנוּ֙ עֹשֵׂ֣י רִשְׁעָ֔ה גַּ֧ם בָּחֲנ֛וּ אֱלֹהִ֖ים וַיִּמָּלֵֽטוּ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And now we callאָשַׁר'âshar 'âshêr · to blessH833
• the proudזֵדzêd · arrogantH2086
• yea, they that workעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: [do]H6213
• wickednessרִשְׁעָהrish‛âh · wickednessH7564
• are set upבָּנָהbânâh · to buildH1129
• temptבָּחַןbâchan · to testH974
• Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• are even deliveredמָלַטmâlaţ · to escapeH4422

Cross-references for Malachi 3:15

• Malachi 4:1“For look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says the Lord of Armies, “not leaving them root or branches.
• Esther 5:10Yet Haman controlled himself and went home. He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh to join him.
• Psalms 10:3For the wicked one boasts about his own cravings; the one who is greedy curses and despises the Lord.
• Psalms 49:18Though he blesses himself during his lifetime — and you are acclaimed when you do well for yourself —
• Psalms 73:12Look at them — the wicked! They are always at ease, and they increase their wealth.
• Daniel 4:30the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built to be a royal residence by my vast power and for my majestic glory?”
• Daniel 5:20But when his heart was exalted and his spirit became arrogant, he was deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken from him.
• Acts 12:21On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them.
• 1 Peter 5:5In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
• Malachi 2:17You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?” When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord’s sight, and he is delighted with them, or else where is the God of justice?”
• Job 12:6The tents of robbers are safe, and those who trouble God are secure; God holds them in his hands.
• Job 21:7Why do the wicked continue to live, growing old and becoming powerful?
• Proverbs 12:12The wicked desire what evil people have caught, but the root of the righteous is productive.
• Ecclesiastes 9:1Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands. People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them.
• Jeremiah 12:1You will be righteous, Lord, even if I bring a case against you. Yet, I wish to contend with you: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the treacherous live at ease?
• Habakkuk 1:13Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do you tolerate those who are treacherous? Why are you silent while one who is wicked swallows up one who is more righteous than himself?

Commentaries on Malachi 3:15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15And now we call the proud happy - Proud and insolent men are the only happy people, for they domineer everywhere, and none dares to resist them. They that work wickedness are set up - The humble and holy are depressed and miserable; the proud and wicked are in places of trust and profit. Too often it is so. They that tempt God are even delivered - Even those who despise God, and insult his justice and providence, are preserved in and from dangers; while…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15And now we call the proud happy (blessed) - This being so, they sum up the case against God. God had declared that all nations should “call them blessed” Malachi 3:12. if they would obey. They answer, using His words; And “now we (they lay stress on the word we,) pronounce blessed,” in fact, those whom God had pronounced cursed: Psalm 119:21. “Thou hast rebuked the proud, who are cursed.” Their characteristic, among other bad men, is of insolence Proverbs…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-18Verses 13-18 Among the Jews at this time, some plainly discovered themselves to be children of the wicked one. The yoke of Christ is easy. But those who work wickedness, tempt God by presumptuous sins. Judge of things as they will appear when the doom of these proud sinners comes to be executed. Those that feared the Lord, spake kindly, for preserving and promoting mutual love, when sin thus abounded. They spake one to another, in the language of those…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 15Calling the arrogant blessed went against God’s justice, because it treated pride and wrongdoing as good (see Malachi 3:13).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 13-1813-18. He notices the complaint of the Jews that it is of no profit to serve Jehovah, for that the ungodly proud are happy; and declares He will soon bring the day when it shall be known that He puts an everlasting distinction between the godly and the ungodly. words ... stout--Hebrew, "hard"; so "the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (Jude 15) [Henderson]. have we spoken--The Hebrew expresses at once their assiduity and habit…Read the comment

Topics related to Malachi 3:15

• Condescension of God
• Malachi
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Change
• Mournfully
• Prove
• Rob
• Malachi
• Set
• Vulgate

Commentaries on Malachi 3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings