Malachi 2:12
in Malachi 2As for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who is awake and aware—even if he brings an offering to the LORD of Hosts.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Jehovah will cut off, to the man that doeth this, him that waketh and him that answereth, out of the tents of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto Jehovah of hosts.
KJV
The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts.
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This verse in Malachi 2
Commentary
8 notes on this verseAnd that which was at the bottom of this and other instances of profaneness and downright atheism, thinking God altogether such a one as themselves, which was, in effect, to say, There is no God,
This site's exposition
Have we not all one father
on Malachi 2:10-12
The appeal to a shared father and one Creator, have we not all one father, hath not one God created us, grounds the charge that follows, dealing treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of their fathers. The specific treachery named is marriage to the daughter of a strange god, a phrase the bench reads as intermarriage with pagan worshippers rather than a charge against foreign birth as such, the same concern Ezra and Nehemiah confronted in the same period. The Lord's judgment is total, cut off from the tabernacles of Jacob, master and scholar alike, because the covenant people's holiness was meant to be Judah's distinguishing mark and was instead its point of failure.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 10 and following) Is not the Father one of us all? Is not God one who created us? Why then does each one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our fathers? Judah has transgressed, and abomination has been made in Israel and in Jerusalem: because Judah has defiled the sanctification of the Lord, which he loved, and has taken the daughter of a foreign god. The Lord will destroy the man who does this, the master and the disciple from the tents of Jacob, and the one who offers an offering to the Lord of hosts. LXX: Is not the Father of you all one? Did not one God create you? Why have you each forsaken his brother, making the abominable testament of your fathers? Judas has been abandoned, and abomination has been made in Israel and in Jerusalem, because Judas defiled the holy things of the Lord, in which he loved, and he discovered foreign gods. May the Lord destroy the man who does these things, until he is driven out from the tents of Jacob, and from those who offer sacrifice to the Almighty Lord. Before we discuss the current chapter, the tradition of the Hebrews must be presented, indeed the truth of the Scriptures must be explained. We read in a volume titled Ezra, spoken in the person of Ezra himself: The leaders approached me, saying: The people of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands and from their abominations, namely the Canaanites, Ethiopians, Persians, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: and the holy seed is mixed with the people of those lands. Moreover the hand of the princes and magistrates hath been first in this transgression. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
God will cut him off, him and all that belongs to him; so the original intimates. He shall be cut off from Israel and from Jerusalem, and not be written among the living there. The Lord will cut off both the master and the scholar, that are guilty of this sin, both the teachers and the taught.
The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
master and . . . scholar--literally, "him that watcheth and him that answereth." So "wakeneth" is used of the teacher or "master" (Isa 50:4); masters are watchful in guarding their scholars. The reference is to the priests, who ought to have taught the people piety, but who led them into evil.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The master and the scholar - He who teachers such doctrine, and he who follows this teaching, the Lord will cut off both the one and the other.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar - , literally “The Lord cut off from the man that doeth this, watcher and answerer.” A proverbial saying apparently, in which the two corresponding classes comprise the whole. Yet so, probably, that the one is the active agent; the other, the passive. The one as a “watcher” goes his rounds, to see that nothing stirreth against that which he is to guard; the other “answereth,” when roused. Together, they express the two opposite classes, active and passive sin; those who originate the sin, and those who adopt or retain it at the instigation of the inventor or active propagator of it. It will not exempt from punishment, that he was led into the sin. From the tabernacles of Jacob - Perhaps “he chose the word, to remind them of their unsettled condition,” out of which God had brought them. And him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts - i. e., him, who, doing these things, offereth an offering to God, to bribe Him, as it were, to connivance at his sin. In the same meaning, Isaiah says, that God hateth Isa 1:13. “iniquity and the solemn meeting,” and Isa 61:8, “I hate robbery with burnt-offering;” or Solomon Pro 15:8, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Pro 28:9; he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination.” And God by Amos says , “I hate, I despise, your feast-days, and will not accept your solemn assemblies.” In one sense the sacrifice was an aggravation, in that the worship of God made the offence either a sin against light, or implied that God might be bribed into connivance in the breaking of His laws. The ancient discipline of removing from communion those guilty of grievous sin was founded on this principle.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
one of acuity or erudition An ingenious one among the students, and one who can answer among the sages. עֵר An expression of an ingenious person.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
for Judah has profaned himself, who was the holy one of the Lord, the first of His grain.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יַכְרֵ֨ת | yakhret | may he cut off | H3772 → | |
| יְהוָ֜ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| לָאִ֨ישׁ | laish | <to> the person | H376 → | 1663 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֤ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יַעֲשֶׂ֙נָּה֙ | yaasenah | he does it | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| עֵ֣ר | ʾer | a protector | H5782 → | |
| וְעֹנֶ֔ה | veoneh | and [one who] answers | H6030 → | |
| מֵאָהֳלֵ֖י | meoholei | from [the] tents of | H168 → | |
| יַֽעֲקֹ֑ב | yaako | Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| וּמַגִּ֣ישׁ | umagish | and [one who] brings near | H5066 → | 125 times |
| מִנְחָ֔ה | minchah | an offering | H4503 → | 211 times |
| לַֽיהוָ֖ה | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָאֽוֹת׃ פ | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
יַכְרֵ֨תmay he cut off
yakhretH3772 →
יְהוָ֜הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
לָאִ֨ישׁ<to> the person
laishH376 →1663 times
אֲשֶׁ֤רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יַעֲשֶׂ֙נָּה֙he does it
yaasenahH6213 →2628 times
עֵ֣רa protector
ʾerH5782 →
וְעֹנֶ֔הand [one who] answers
veonehH6030 →
מֵאָהֳלֵ֖יfrom [the] tents of
meoholeiH168 →
יַֽעֲקֹ֑בJacob
yaakoH3290 →350 times
וּמַגִּ֣ישׁand [one who] brings near
umagishH5066 →125 times
מִנְחָ֔הan offering
minchahH4503 →211 times
לַֽיהוָ֖הto Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָאֽוֹת׃ פof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 15:14Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
it leads to
- Luke 6:39
Jesus also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
- Isaiah 56:10
Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
- Matthew 23:16–24
Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’
- Malachi 2:8
But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Luke 6:39
Through
2 Timothy 3:13while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
- Titus 3:3
For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- 2 Timothy 3:8
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and disqualified from the faith.
- 2 Peter 2:20
If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse…
- 1 Timothy 4:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Malachi
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Malachi; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.