Passage

Malachi 3.10

Book: Malachi · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

8. Will a man rob God? yet ye rob me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9. Ye are cursed with the curse; for ye rob me, even this whole nation.

10. Bring ye the whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah 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.

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before the time in the field, saith Jehovah of hosts. 12. And all nations shall call you happy; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith Jehovah of hosts. (Malachi 3:8-12, ASV)

WEB

8. Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings. 9. You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.

10. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for.

I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says Yahweh of Armies. 12. “All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says Yahweh of Armies. (Malachi 3:8-12, WEB)

KJV

8. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith 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. ^{pour: Heb. empty out}

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. ^{destroy: Heb. corrupt} 12. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:8-12, KJV)

YLT

8. Doth man deceive God? but ye are deceiving Me, And ye have said: 'In what have we deceived Thee?' The tithe and the heave-offering! 9. With a curse ye are cursed! And Me ye are deceiving, this nation, all of it.

10. Bring in all the tithe unto the treasure-house, And there is food in My house; When ye have tried Me, now, with this, Said Jehovah of Hosts, Do not I open to you the windows of heaven? Yea, I have emptied on you a blessing till there is no space.

And I have pushed for you against the consumer, And He doth not destroy to you the fruit of the ground, Nor miscarry to you doth the vine in the field, Said Jehovah of Hosts. 12. And declared you happy have all the nations, For ye are a delightful land, said Jehovah of Hosts. (Malachi 3:8-12, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: YHWH, whose word comes "by Malachi" (1:1, literally "by the hand of Malachi"), speaking in the first person and inviting a test.
Audience: The returned community of Judah, "even this whole nation" (3:9), charged with robbing God "in tithes and offerings" (3:8).
Location: Jerusalem and its temple, in Yehud (Judah), a province of the Persian Empire. The "governor" of 1:8 bears the Persian-era title also given to Zerubbabel (Haggai 1:1) and to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5:14).
Time period: The Persian period, commonly dated to the mid-fifth century BC (c. 460-430 BC). The book carries no dated heading, but the temple is standing and its sacrifices are running, so it follows the rebuilding completed in the sixth year of Darius (Ezra 6:15, c. 516 BC). The abuses it confronts, a careless priesthood, withheld tithes, and marriages to worshippers of foreign gods, are the ones Nehemiah deals with (Nehemiah 13:10-12, 23-29).

Theological reading

The context is covenant repair. The verse answers "Wherein shall we return?" (3:7). The people are withholding "tithes and offerings" (3:8), the portion the law gave to the Levites "for an inheritance, in return for their service" (Numbers 18:21). Nehemiah records the same neglect: the Levites had fled to their fields because their portions were not given, until "all Judah" brought the tithe "unto the treasuries" (Nehemiah 13:10-12). The "store-house" is the temple's storeroom, and the goal is "that there may be food in my house."

"Prove me now herewith." The verb (Strong's H974) is the same one used in 3:15 of the arrogant who "tempt God, and escape." There, testing God is an act of defiance. Here YHWH himself invites the test on his own terms. The prohibition of Deuteronomy 6:16 ("Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God") uses a different verb (Strong's H5254).

The windows of heaven. The promised blessing is pictured as rain poured out through "the windows of heaven," recalling the covenant promise that YHWH "will open unto thee his good treasure the heavens, to give the rain of thy land in its season" (Deuteronomy 28:12). Verse 11 adds protection of the crops from "the devourer." The verse addresses Israel's tithe under the law of Moses; how far it applies to Christian giving is a matter on which readers differ.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H6635 - tzevaot, tzevaot, Strong's H6635
H3068 - YHWH, YHWH, Strong's H3068

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.