EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Malachi 2:17
17The Lord has become tired as he listens to your words. You ask, ‘Why is he tired? What have we done to cause that?’ You say, ‘The Lord thinks that all people who do evil things are good! He does not punish them but he is happy with them.’ You also say, ‘God is not here to bring justice!’
Malachi 2:17 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
- New International Version (NIV)You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”
- English Standard Version (ESV)You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, "How have we wearied him?" By saying, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"
- New King James Version (NKJV)You have wearied the Lord with your words; Yet you say, “In what way have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil Is good in the sight of the Lord, And He delights in them,” Or, “Where is the God of justice?”
Context of Malachi 2:17
15The Lord has joined you together, as a man with his wife. Your body and your spirit belong to him. Why did God put you together? He wanted you to have children who would belong to him. So think carefully about how you live. Do not leave the wife that you married when you were a young man. 16The Lord God of Israel says this: ‘If a man sends his wife away from him, I hate that! He has been cruel to his wife when he should take care of her. So be very careful! Remember your promise to take care of your wife.’ That is what the Lord Almighty says. The Lord has become tired as he listens to your words. You ask, ‘Why is he tired? What have we done to cause that?’ You say, ‘The Lord thinks that all people who do evil things are good! He does not punish them but he is happy with them.’ You also say, ‘God is not here to bring justice!’
Read all of Malachi 2Malachi 2:17 word by word
הוֹגַעְתֶּ֤ם יְהוָה֙ בְּדִבְרֵיכֶ֔ם וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם בַּמָּ֣ה הוֹגָ֑עְנוּ בֶּאֱמָרְכֶ֗ם כָּל־עֹ֨שֵׂה רָ֜ע ט֣וֹב׀ בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהוָ֗ה וּבָהֶם֙ ה֣וּא חָפֵ֔ץ א֥וֹ אַיֵּ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֥י הַמִּשְׁפָּֽט׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Ye have weariedיָגֵעַyâga‛ · be weary/toilH3021
- the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
- with your wordsדָּבָרdâbâr · wordH1697
- Yet ye sayאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
- Every one that doethעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
- evilרַעra‛ râ‛âh · bad: evilH7451
- goodטוֹבţôb · pleasantH2896
- in the sightעַ֫יִן‛ayin · eye: seeingH5869
- and he delightethחָפֵץchâphêts · to delight inH2654
- the Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
- of judgmentמִשְׁפָּטmishpâţ · justiceH4941
Cross-references for Malachi 2:17
- Psalms 95:9Your ancestors tested me there, to see if I would punish them. But they had already seen the great things that I had done for them!
- Isaiah 1:14I hate your new moon feasts and your holy meetings. They have become like a heavy load for me. I cannot carry it any longer!
- Isaiah 7:13So Isaiah replied, ‘Now listen, you royal family of David! You cause trouble for people like me. That is bad enough. But now you are trying to cause trouble for God himself.
- Isaiah 43:24You did not buy any spices to offer them to me. You did not bring me the fat from your sacrifices to make me happy. Instead, you have made it difficult for me, because of all your sins. All the evil things that you do have caused me to become very tired.
- Jeremiah 15:6I tell you this: You have turned away from me. You continue to go further away from me. So I will prepare to use my power to destroy you. I can no longer be kind to you.
- Ezekiel 16:43The Almighty Lord says this: I am punishing you as you deserve for all the things that you have done. You have forgotten how I helped you when you were young. You have done many disgusting things and you have also lived like a prostitute.
- Amos 2:13So I will punish you. A cart that has a heavy load pushes down on the ground. That is how I will push down on you.
- Malachi 2:14You ask, ‘Why is the Lord not happy with our gifts?’ The Lord knows that you men have not done the right thing with your wives. When you married as a young man, you promised to take care of your wife always. But you have sent her away, when the law says that you must stay with her as your wife.
- Malachi 1:6The Lord Almighty says this to the priests: ‘A son respects his father. A servant respects his master. If I am really your father and your master, why do you not respect me? You are my priests, but you insult my name. But then you ask, “What have we done to insult your name?”
- Malachi 3:8I say to you, “A man should not rob God. But you are robbing me.” But you ask, “How do we rob you?” I say, “You do not give to me the tithes and the offerings that you should give.”
- Malachi 3:13The Lord says, ‘You have spoken bad words against me. But you ask, “What have we said against you?”
- Job 34:5Job has said, “I am not guilty. But God refuses to judge me in a fair way.
- Job 36:17But now you have a lot of trouble, because God is punishing you as wicked people deserve. God is right and fair to judge you like that.
- Psalms 73:3When I saw that wicked people had plenty of things, I was jealous of those proud people.
- Matthew 11:18People today are like those children. John the Baptist did not eat ordinary food. He never drank wine. So people say that he has a bad spirit in him.
- Deuteronomy 32:4He is the strong Rock where we can be safe. Everything that he does is perfect. He only does what is right and fair. We can trust him to be faithful.
Commentaries on Malachi 2:17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17Ye have wearied the Lord - He has borne with you so long, and has been provoked so often, that he will bear it no longer. It is not fit that he should. Every one that doeth evil - Ye say that it is right in the sight of the Lord to put away a wife, because she has no longer found favor in the sight of her husband. And because it has not been signally punished hitherto, ye blaspheme and cry out, "Where is the God of judgment?" Were he such as he is…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 17Ye have wearied the Lord with your words - o“By your blasphemous words, full of unbelief and mistrust, you have in a manner wearied God. He speaks of God, after the manner of men, as a man afflicted by the ills of others. Whence also the Lord says in Isaiah Isaiah 1:14, “I am weary to bear them,” and Isaiah 43:24, “thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities.” In like way the Apostle says Ephesians 4:30. With the…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 10-17Verses 10-17 Corrupt practices are the fruit of corrupt principles; and he who is false to his God, will not be true to his fellow mortals. In contempt of the marriage covenant, which God instituted, the Jews put away the wives they had of their own nation, probably to make room for strange wives. They made their lives bitter to them; yet, in the sight of others, they pretend to be tender of them. Consider she is thy wife; thy own; the nearest relation…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 17Malachi's fourth message addresses the difference between God's justice and human justice (Malachi 2:17). This section sounds like a courtroom charge against Judah. It presents God’s formal accusation. Malachi condemns religious behavior that follows rules but lacks sincere devotion (see Malachi 3:14). This kind of worship goes against God’s justice. The prophet calls the people to honesty and to real concern for others in their community.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1717. wearied ... Lord--(Is 43:24). This verse forms the transition to Mal 3:1, &c. The Jewish skeptics of that day said virtually, God delighteth in evil-doers (inferring this from the prosperity of the surrounding heathen, while they, the Jews, were comparatively not prosperous: forgetting that their attendance to minor and external duties did not make up for their neglect of the weightier duties of the law; for example, the duty they owed their wives…Read the comment
Topics related to Malachi 2:17
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Malachi 2
- 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
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