Malachi 3:12
in Malachi 3“Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight,” says the LORD of Hosts.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And all nations shall call you happy; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith Jehovah of hosts.
KJV
And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.
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This verse in Malachi 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verseListen, then, impious one. You know that everything belongs to God; you will not give the Creator of all things something of his own? The Lord God is not in want; he does not demand recompense but honor. He does not require you to pay …
This site's exposition
I will rebuke the devourer
on Malachi 3:11-12
The promise is practical: "I will rebuke the devourer for you," reversing the crop curses of Deuteronomy's warnings. Verse 12 widens it: "all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight". The blessing stays tied to the obedience of verse 10.
This site's exposition
all the nations will call you blessed
The blessing reaches past the harvest. Adam Clarke reads the land of delight as a land like Paradise, the garden of the LORD. Albert Barnes notes that the Persian masters of a small province would hardly have noticed its harvests, so the promise looks further.
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 Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And all nations shall call you blessed,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
All nations shall call you blessed - They shall see that a peculiar blessing of God rests upon you, and your land shall be delightsome; like Paradise, the garden of the Lord.
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
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
All nations shall call you blessed - The promise goes beyond the temporal prosperity of their immediate obedience. Few could know or think much of the restored prolificalness of Judaea; none could know of its antecedents. A people, as well as individuals, may starve, and none know of it. Had the whole population of Judah died out, their Persian masters would not have cared for it, but would have sent fresh colonists to replace them and pay the tribute to the great king. The only interest, which all nations could have in them, was as being the people of God, from whom He should come, “the Desire of all nations, in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.” Of this, God’s outward favor was the earnest; they should have again the blessings which He had promised to His people. And ye shall be called a delightsome land - , literally “a land of good pleasure.” It was not so much the land as the people; ye shall be called. The land stands for the people upon it, in whom its characteristics lay. The river Jordan was not so bright as Abana and Pharpar: “the aspect of the shore” is the same, when the inhabitants are spiritually or morally dead; only the more beautiful, in contrast with the lifeless “spirit of man.” So Isaiah says Isa 62:2-4, “The nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shrill be called by a name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name Thou shalt no more be called Forsaken, nor shall thy land be called Desolate, but thou shalt be called My-delight-is-in-her, and thy land Married: for the Lord delighteth in thee and thy land shall be married.” God and man should delight in her.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sake The finishing locusts and the shearing locusts, which devour the grain of your field and your vines.
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. 5 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאִשְּׁר֥וּ | veisheru | and they will call blessed | H833 → | |
| אֶתְכֶ֖ם | ʾetkhem | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַגּוֹיִ֑ם | hagoyim | the nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תִהְי֤וּ | tihyu | you will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| אַתֶּם֙ | ʾatem | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| אֶ֣רֶץ | ʾeretz | a land of | H776 → | |
| חֵ֔פֶץ | chefetz | delight | H2656 → | |
| אָמַ֖ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָאֽוֹת׃ ס | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
וְאִשְּׁר֥וּand they will call blessed
veisheruH833 →
אֶתְכֶ֖ם<obj.> you
ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הַגּוֹיִ֑םthe nations
hagoyimH1471 →561 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
תִהְי֤וּyou will be
tihyuH1961 →3559 times
אַתֶּם֙you
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
אֶ֣רֶץa land of
ʾeretzH776 →
חֵ֔פֶץdelight
chefetzH2656 →
אָמַ֖רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֥הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָאֽוֹת׃ סof 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
Isaiah 62:4No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will…
it leads to
- Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”
- Hosea 2:19–20
So I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion.
- Isaiah 62:12
And they will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of The LORD; and you will be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
- Isaiah 54:5–7
For your husband is your Maker—the LORD of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.
- Jeremiah 32:41
Yes, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.
- Zephaniah 3:17
Through
Luke 1:48For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.
it leads to
- Psalms 138:6
Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.
- Psalms 138:6
Through
Zechariah 8:23This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue will tightly grasp the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for…
it leads to
- Isaiah 55:5
Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory…
- Isaiah 45:14
This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge…
- Isaiah 55:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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On this verse
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); Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 33:2; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Malachi; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).