Malachi 3:7
in Malachi 3Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
From the days of your fathers ye have turned aside from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts. But ye say, Wherein shall we return?
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?
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This verse in Malachi 3
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Even 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.
This site's exposition
For I am the Lord, I change not
on Malachi 3:6-7
For I am the Lord, I change not is among the clearest statements of divine immutability in the Old Testament, and the commentators read it as the reason the previous verse's judgment does not simply end Israel outright, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. The same unchanging character that judges also preserves, the Lord's faithfulness to his own covenant outlasting the nation's repeated unfaithfulness to it. Return unto me, and I will return unto you renews an offer the people answer, as through the whole book, with another skeptical question, Wherein shall we return?
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
And while God is provoked with frequent and continual offenses, he softens his indignation, and in his patience waits for the day of retribution, once for all determined. And although he has revenge in his power, he prefers to keep patience for a long while. [He bears], that is to say, mercifully, and puts off, so that, if it might be possible, the long-protracted mischief may at some time be changed, and humanity, involved in the contagion of errors and crimes, may even though late be converted to God, as he himself warns and says, "I do not will the death of him that dies, so much as that he may return and live." And again, " 'Return unto me,' says the Lord."
(Verse 7 and following) Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
The Medieval Church1 voice
On account of its great intensity, this reflection is sometimes mingled with wonder. For the heart of those who see the Lord will rejoice. Seek the Lord, O sinners, and be strengthened in your thoughts because of hope. And seek his face through repentance at …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances,....
(3.) They are so firmly resolved to go on in sin that they will find a thousand foolish frivolous excuses to shift off their repentance, and turn away the calls that are given them to repent. They seem to speak only as those that wanted something to say; it is a mere evasion, a banter upon the prophet, and a challenge to him to descend to particulars.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
Gone 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.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְמִימֵ֨י | lemimei | <to> from [the] days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֜ם | ʾavoteikhem | ancestors your | H1 → | 1212 times |
| סַרְתֶּ֤ם | sartem | you have turned aside | H5493 → | |
| מֵֽחֻקַּי֙ | mechukai | from statutes my | H2706 → | |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שְׁמַרְתֶּ֔ם | shemartem | you have kept [them] | H8104 → | 468 times |
| שׁ֤וּבוּ | shuvu | return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אֵלַי֙ | ʾelai | to me | H413 → | 5510 times |
| וְאָשׁ֣וּבָה | veashuvah | so let me return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אֲלֵיכֶ֔ם | ʾaleikhem | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אָמַ֖ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָא֑וֹת | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם | vaamartem | and you say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בַּמֶּ֥ה | bameh | <in> how? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| נָשֽׁוּב׃ | nashuv | will we return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
לְמִימֵ֨י<to> from [the] days of
lemimeiH3117 →2304 times
אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֜םancestors your
ʾavoteikhemH1 →1212 times
סַרְתֶּ֤םyou have turned aside
sartemH5493 →
מֵֽחֻקַּי֙from statutes my
mechukaiH2706 →
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
שְׁמַרְתֶּ֔םyou have kept [them]
shemartemH8104 →468 times
שׁ֤וּבוּreturn
shuvuH7725 →1056 times
אֵלַי֙to me
ʾelaiH413 →5510 times
וְאָשׁ֣וּבָהso let me return
veashuvahH7725 →1056 times
אֲלֵיכֶ֔םto you
ʾaleikhemH413 →5510 times
אָמַ֖רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָא֑וֹתof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖םand you say
vaamartemH559 →5305 times
בַּמֶּ֥ה<in> how?
bamehH4100 →752 times
נָשֽׁוּב׃will we return
nashuvH7725 →1056 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
James 4:8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
it leads to
- Psalms 145:18
The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.
- Hebrews 10:22
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
- Zechariah 1:3
So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’
- Isaiah 55:6–7
Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- 2 Chronicles 15:2
So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him,…
- Psalms 145:18
Through
Romans 10:21But as for Israel he says: “All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 65:2–5
All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people who walk in the wrong path, who follow their own imaginations,
- Isaiah 65:2–5
Through
Romans 10:3Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
it leads to
- Luke 16:15
So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.
- Philippians 3:9
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.
- Luke 16:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Malachi
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Cyprian, Treatise IX. On the Advantage of Patience 9:4; Isaac of Nineveh, ASCETICAL HOMILES 5:76-77; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Malachi; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.