translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MAL

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “The burden.” The Hebrew term III מַשָּׂא ( massa ’), usually translated “oracle” or “utterance” (BDB 672 s.v. מַשָּׂא ), is a technical term in prophetic literature introducing a message from the Lord (see Zech 9:1; 12:1 ). Since it derives from a verb meaning “to carry,” its original nuance was that of a burdensome message, that is, one with ominous content. The grammatical structure here suggests that the term stands alone (so NAB, NRSV) and is not to be joined with what follows, “the burden [or “revelation”] of” (so KJV, NASB, ESV).


text: Heb “The word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of Malachi.” There is some question as to whether מַלְאָכִי ( mal ’ akhi ) should be understood as a personal name (so almost all English versions) or as simply “my messenger” (the literal meaning of the Hebrew). Despite the fact that the word should be understood in the latter sense in 3:1 (where, however, it refers to a different person), to understand it that way here would result in the book being of anonymous authorship, a situation anomalous among all the prophetic literature of the OT.


text: Heb “and I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated.” The context indicates this is technical covenant vocabulary in which “love” and “hate” are synonymous with “choose” and “reject” respectively (see Deut 7:8 ; Jer 31:3 ; Hos 3:1; 9:15; 11:1 ).


text: Heb “his”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “I set his mountains as a desolation.”


text: Or “inheritance” (so NIV, NLT).


text: Heb “and they will call them.” The third person plural subject is indefinite; one could translate, “and people will call them.”


text: Or “Great is the Lord ” (so NAB; similar NIV, NRSV).


text: The verb “respects” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. It is understood by ellipsis (see “honors” in the preceding line).


text: The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification (also a second time before “master” later in this verse).


text: Heb “it” (so NAB, NASB). Contemporary English more naturally uses a plural pronoun to agree with “the lame and sick” in the previous question (cf. NIV, NCV).


label: NET textual note

text: The LXX and Vulgate read “with it” (which in Hebrew would be הֲיִרְצֵהוּ , hayirtsehu , a reading followed by NAB) rather than “with you” of the MT ( הֲיִרְצְךָ , hayirtsÿkha ). The MT (followed here by most English versions) is to be preferred because of the parallel with the following phrase פָנֶיךָ ( fanekha , “receive you,” which the present translation renders as “show you favor”).


text: Heb “seek the face of God.”


text: After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunction indicates purpose (cf. NASB, NRSV).


text: Heb “fruit.” The following word “food” in the Hebrew text ( אָכְלוֹ , ’ okhlo ) appears to be an explanatory gloss to clarify the meaning of the rare word נִיב ( niv , “fruit”; see Isa 57:19 Qere ; נוֹב , nov , “fruit,” in Kethib ). Cf. ASV “the fruit thereof, even its food.” In this cultic context the reference is to the offerings on the altar.


text: Heb “from your hand,” a metonymy of part (the hand) for whole (the person).