Malachi 2:10-3:6
Dear RTB’ers,
Yesterday the Lord through Malachi was castigating the priests. Today He takes on the rest of Jerusalem and Judah, railing against their marrying foreign women and being unfaithful to their wives – the same issues that Ezra and Nehemiah were dealing with. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. (v. 2:15b) Good advice!
The second chapter ends with the Jews asking, Where is the God of justice? (v. 2:17b) God answers their question in the next chapter, with its first verse pointing to John the Baptist, and the next few verses pointing to Jesus, the Messiah. He will indeed bring justice: Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear Me, says the LORD of hosts. (v. 3:5) These verses and earlier verses in Malachi and other prophets led the Jews to expect a powerful Messiah who would take down the ruling authorities and establish Jerusalem as the center of His dominion. Instead, they got Jesus, a “Suffering Servant”. Malachi’s prophetic fulfillment is yet to come.
Blessings.
One more thing… Different translations can indeed be very different. Here are two translations of Malachi 2:16, first in the ESV and the second in the NASB:
For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.
ESV
For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of armies. “So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.
NASB
I hate divorce in the NASB stands out much more strongly than the wording in the ESV.
See also: September 18 (2023) / Ezra 4:6-23; Malachi (again).
Regarding Fred’s “One more thing…” The ESV contains this footnote after the word “covers”:
All that goes to say that it is not just a matter of translation, but which version of the “original” text the translators are working from (e.g., the Masoretic Hebrew or the Greek Septuagint).