New Living Translation
Malachi 2:17
17You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the Lord’s sight, and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking, “Where is the God of 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
15Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. 16“For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.” You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the Lord’s sight, and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking, “Where is the God of 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 95:9For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did.
- Isaiah 1:14I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!
- Isaiah 7:13Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well?
- Isaiah 43:24You have not brought me fragrant calamus or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices. Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your faults.
- Jeremiah 15:6You have abandoned me and turned your back on me,” says the Lord. “Therefore, I will raise my fist to destroy you. I am tired of always giving you another chance.
- Ezekiel 16:43But first, because you have not remembered your youth but have angered me by doing all these evil things, I will fully repay you for all of your sins, says the Sovereign Lord. For you have added lewd acts to all your detestable sins.
- Amos 2:13“So I will make you groan like a wagon loaded down with sheaves of grain.
- Malachi 2:14You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows.
- Malachi 1:6The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name! “But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’
- Malachi 3:8“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.
- Malachi 3:13“You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord. “But you say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’
- Job 34:5For Job also said, ‘I am innocent, but God has taken away my rights.
- Job 36:17But you are obsessed with whether the godless will be judged. Don’t worry, judgment and justice will be upheld.
- Psalms 73:3For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
- Matthew 11:18For John didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’
- Deuteronomy 32:4He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!
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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