English Standard Version
Malachi 3:7
7From 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 the Lord of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?'
Malachi 3:7 in other versions
- King James Version (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?
- New International Version (NIV)Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
- New King James Version (NKJV)Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” Says the Lord of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’
- New Living Translation (NLT)Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’
Context of Malachi 3:7
5"Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. 6"For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 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 the Lord of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' 8Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. 9You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.
Read all of Malachi 3Malachi 3:7 word by word
לְמִימֵ֨י אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֜ם סַרְתֶּ֤ם מֵֽחֻקַּי֙ וְלֹ֣א שְׁמַרְתֶּ֔ם שׁ֤וּבוּ אֵלַי֙ וְאָשׁ֣וּבָה אֲלֵיכֶ֔ם אָמַ֖ר יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם בַּמֶּ֥ה נָשֽׁוּב׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Even from the daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
- of your fathersאָב'âb · fatherH1
- ye are gone awayסוּרsûr ώûr · to turn aside: turn asideH5493
- from mine ordinancesחֹקchôq · statute: decreeH2706
- and have not keptשָׁמַרshâmar · to keep: obeyH8104
- Returnשׁוּבshûb · to return: returnH7725
- unto you, saithאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
- the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
- of hostsצָבָאtsâbâ' tsebâ'âh · HostsH6635
Cross-references for Malachi 3:7
- Deuteronomy 9:7Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 31:20For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant.
- Nehemiah 9:16"But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.
- Psalms 78:8and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
- Ezekiel 20:8But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. "Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
- Luke 11:48So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.
- Acts 7:51"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
- Leviticus 26:40"But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,
- Deuteronomy 4:29But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Deuteronomy 30:1"And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you,
- 1 Kings 8:47yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, 'We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,'
- Nehemiah 1:8Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples,
- Isaiah 55:6"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
- Jeremiah 3:12Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, "'Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever.
- Ezekiel 18:30"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
- Hosea 14:1Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Commentaries on Malachi 3:7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7Gone away from mine ordinances - Never acting according to their spirit and design. Return unto me - There is still space to repent. Wherein shall we return? - Their consciences were seared, and they knew not that they were sinners.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7Even from the days of your fathers - Back to those days and from them ye are gone away from My ordinances. “I am not changed from good; ye are not changed from evil. I am unchangeable in holiness; ye are unchangeable in perversity.” Return unto Me - The beginning of our return is from the preventing grace of God. Jeremiah 31:18; Lamentations 5:21, “turn Thou me, and I shall be turned, for Thou art the Lord my God,” is the voice of the soul to God…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-12Verses 7-12 The men of that generation turned away from God, they had not kept his ordinances. God gives them a gracious call. But they said, Wherein shall we return? God notices what returns our hearts make to the calls of his word. It shows great perverseness in sin, when men make afflictions excuses for sin, which are sent to part between them and their sins. Here is an earnest exhortation to reform. God must be served in the first place; and the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7turn away: In a covenant relationship, this phrase expresses a change in loyalty by Israel or God. It usually means repentance, a complete turn back to God or a full shift toward the Lord. The command is urgent and requires an immediate response. The accusation of fake worship builds on similar charges in the second argument (see Malachi 1:6–14). God's promise to open the windows of heaven (Malachi 3:10) shows his power as a great King (see 1:14).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 7-127-12. Reproof for the non-payment of tithes and offerings, which is the cause of their national calamities, and promise of prosperity on their paying them. from ... days of your fathers--Ye live as your fathers did when they brought on themselves the Babylonian captivity, and ye wish to follow in their steps. This shows that nothing but God's unchanging long-suffering had prevented their being long ago "consumed" (Mal 3:6). Return unto me--in penitence. I…Read the comment
Topics related to Malachi 3:7
In the dictionaries
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
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