Malachi 3:8
in Malachi 3Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Will a man rob God? yet ye rob me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
KJV
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
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This verse in Malachi 3
Commentary
9 notes on this verseWill a man rob God?.... Or "the gods"; the false gods, the idols of the Gentiles; the Heathens will not do that, accounting sacrilege a great sin, and yet this the Jews were guilty of: or "the judges" (c), as the Targum; civil magistrates; will any dare to defraud them of their due? see Mal 1:
This site's exposition
Will a man rob God
on Malachi 3:8-10
Will a man rob God? names the specific form the people's unfaithfulness has taken, withheld tithes and offerings, and the Lord's answer is direct, ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse sets the remedy inside the covenant's own terms, provision for the Levites and the temple service rather than a private transaction between an individual and personal wealth, and the test offered, prove me now herewith, is addressed to the nation's corporate obedience rather than promised as a formula for any one giver. The windows of heaven opened and a blessing poured out belongs to this covenant setting, the commentators reading it as agricultural abundance answering a specific national failure rather than a general principle detached from it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(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 Nineteenth Century4 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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
But they appropriated all the tithes, robbing the Levites of their due nine-tenths; as they did also, according to JOSEPHUS, before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Thus doubly God was defrauded, the priests not discharging aright their sacrificial duties, and robbing God of the services of the Levites, who were driven away by destitution [GROTIUS].
These Prophets would have made poor royal chaplains if those who dwell in kings' houses have to use smooth speech. Malachi here charges the people with robbery and with the very worst form of it, namely, sacrilege. He speaks for the Lord and says, "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me." It ill becomes the messengers of Heaven to be the flatterers of rebels. If they should descend to such baseness, they might well expect that their Maker would take them away. The Lord sends His servants to speak the Truth in all its plainness, to denounce sin with all fidelity and to publish God's sentence of condemnation against those who continue in their iniquity. Men's souls are to be dealt with honestly and, if need be, sternly. God's Truth is to be handled with vigorous plainness, for the Lord has said, "He that has My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully." Yet notice that Malachi constantly mixes promises with threats and while he is like a sharp two-edged sword against the evil of the people, he is as the balm of Gilead to those who feel their disease of sin and desire to be healed of it. Between the peals of thundering warning there are silver showers of gracious encouragement! He has tempest for sin but peace for those who confess it. Almost the next verse after our text is, "Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house and prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Faithful ministries have in them a blending of the Law to drive with the Gospel to draw. Brothers, we must use the Law for its ordained purpose.
These Prophets would have made poor royal chaplains if those who dwell in kings' houses have to use smooth speech. Malachi here charges the people with robbery and with the very worst form of it, namely, sacrilege. He speaks for the Lord and says, "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me." It ill becomes the messengers of Heaven to be the flatterers of rebels. If they should descend to such baseness, they might well expect that their Maker would take them away.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Will a man rob God? - Here is one point on which ye are guilty; ye withhold the tithes and offerings from the temple of God, so that the Divine worship is neglected.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Shall a man rob or cheat - , defraud God? God answers question by question, but thereby drives it home to the sinner’s soul, and appeals to his conscience. The conscience is steeled, and answers again, “In what?” God specifies two things only, obvious, patent, which, as being material things, they could not deny. “In tithes and offerings.” The offerings included several classes of dues to God: (a) the first fruits ; (b) the annual half-shekel Exo 30:13-15; (c) the offerings made for the tabernacle Exo 25:2-3; Exo 35:5, Exo 35:21, Exo 35:24; Exo 36:3, Exo 36:6 and the second temple Ezr 8:25 at its first erection; it is used of ordinary offerings; (d) of the tithes of their own tithes, which the Levites paid to the priests Num 18:26, Num 18:28-29; (e) of the portions of the sacrifice which accrued to the priests Lev 7:14.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲיִקְבַּ֨ע | hayikba' | ¿ will he rob | H6906 → | 6 times |
| אָדָ֜ם | ʾadam | someone | H120 → | |
| אֱלֹהִ֗ים | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אַתֶּם֙ | ʾatem | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| קֹבְעִ֣ים | koeim | [are] robbing | H6906 → | 6 times |
| אֹתִ֔י | ʾoti | <obj.> me | H853 → | 10935 times |
| וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם | vaamartem | and you say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בַּמֶּ֣ה | bameh | <in> how? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| קְבַעֲנ֑וּךָ | kevaanucha | have we robbed you | H6906 → | 6 times |
| הַֽמַּעֲשֵׂ֖ר | hamaaser | the tithe | H4643 → | |
| וְהַתְּרוּמָֽה׃ | vehaterumah | and the contribution | H8641 → |
הֲיִקְבַּ֨ע¿ will he rob
hayikba'H6906 →6 times
אָדָ֜םsomeone
ʾadamH120 →
אֱלֹהִ֗יםGod
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אַתֶּם֙you
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
קֹבְעִ֣ים[are] robbing
koeimH6906 →6 times
אֹתִ֔י<obj.> me
ʾotiH853 →10935 times
וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖םand you say
vaamartemH559 →5305 times
בַּמֶּ֣ה<in> how?
bamehH4100 →752 times
קְבַעֲנ֑וּךָhave we robbed you
kevaanuchaH6906 →6 times
הַֽמַּעֲשֵׂ֖רthe tithe
hamaaserH4643 →
וְהַתְּרוּמָֽה׃and the contribution
vehaterumahH8641 →
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 22:21“Caesar’s,” they answered. So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
it leads to
- Romans 13:7
Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 24:21
My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not associate with the rebellious.
- Acts 4:19
But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.
- Romans 13:7
Through
Psalms 29:2Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness.
it leads to
- Psalms 96:8–9
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering and enter His courts.
- 1 Chronicles 16:28–29
Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
- Psalms 110:3
Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.
- 2 Chronicles 20:21
Then Jehoshaphat consulted with the people and appointed those who would sing to the LORD and praise the splendor of His holiness. As they went out before the army, they were singing: “Give thanks…
- Psalms 27:4
One thing I have asked of the LORD; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the…
- Psalms 96:8–9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Malachi
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2156: “Robbers of God” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Malachi; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.