Malachi 3:15

Translations

Modern

So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”

Traditional

And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

Literal

And now we call blessed the arrogant. Also are raised up those doing wickedness; they even test God and escape.’”

Latin

Ergo nunc beatos dicimus arrogantes: siquidem ædificati sunt facientes impietatem, et tentaverunt Deum, et salvi facti sunt.

Original

Hebrew

English

So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”

Notes

Malachi 3:15

Calling the arrogant blessed went against God’s justice, because it treated pride and wrongdoing as good (see Malachi 3:13).

Malachi 3:13–4:3

Malachi’s final message contains two distinct but related speeches. The first emphasizes serving the Lord (Malachi 3:13–18). The second compares the fate of the wicked and the righteous (Malachi 4:1–3)

Each speech ends with the messenger formula (see study note on Malachi 1:8). The prophet revisits themes from the fourth message (Malachi 3:1–5), emphasizing God's desire for honesty and faithfulness in worship, especially with the coming judgment on the day of the Lord.

If Malachi is like a courtroom scene, this last argument is the sentencing. Although wickedness seems to win over righteousness and God seems slow to judge sin in the community, the coming day of the Lord will prove God's justice. The wicked will be separated from the righteous by the fire of God's judgment.

Theme notes and profiles

Preaching to a Tough Crowd What Is Good

Events

Prophecies of Malachic. 442 BC

Related verses

Jeremiah 12:1–2
Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
Job 21:7–15
Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
Malachi 2:17
You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”
Malachi 4:1
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
Job 22:23
If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents
Matthew 4:6–7
“If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You, and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
Hebrews 3:9
…where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.
Psalm 78:18
They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.
Job 21:30
Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.
Proverbs 12:12
The wicked desire the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.
Psalm 10:3
For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
Psalm 78:56
But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees.

Glossary

Malachi, Book of

Topics

Condescension of God: Expostulates with Backsliding Israel God: Providence of, Mysterious and Misinterpreted Malachi: Reproves God's People for Their Impiety Wicked (People): Prosperity of

Malachi 3:15

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