Malachi 2:3
New International Version
“Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.

New Living Translation
I will punish your descendants and splatter your faces with the manure from your festival sacrifices, and I will throw you on the manure pile.

English Standard Version
Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.

Berean Standard Bible
Behold, I will rebuke your descendants, and I will spread dung on your faces, the waste from your feasts, and you will be carried off with it.

King James Bible
Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

New King James Version
“Behold, I will rebuke your descendants And spread refuse on your faces, The refuse of your solemn feasts; And one will take you away with it.

New American Standard Bible
Behold, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread dung on your faces, the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

NASB 1995
“Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

NASB 1977
“Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, I am going to rebuke your seed, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

Amplified Bible
Behold, I am going to rebuke your seed, and I will spread the refuse on your faces, the refuse from the festival offerings; and you will be taken away with it [in disgrace].

Christian Standard Bible
“Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it.

American Standard Version
Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and ye shall be taken away with it.

Contemporary English Version
I will punish your descendants and rub your faces in the manure from your animal sacrifices, and then be done with you.

English Revised Version
Behold, I will rebuke the seed for your sake, and will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your sacrifices; and ye shall be taken away with it.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"I'm going to punish your descendants. I'm going to spread excrement on your faces, the excrement from your festival sacrifices. You will be discarded with it.

Good News Translation
I will punish your children and rub your faces in the dung of the animals you sacrifice--and you will be taken out to the dung heap.

International Standard Version
Look! I'm rebuking your descendants because of you, and I'll spread waste on your faces, the waste of your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.

Majority Standard Bible
Behold, I will rebuke your descendants, and I will spread dung on your faces, the waste from your feasts, and you will be carried off with it.

NET Bible
I am about to discipline your children and will spread offal on your faces, the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.

New Heart English Bible
Look, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

World English Bible
Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Behold, I am pushing away the seed before you, "" And have scattered dung before your faces, "" Dung of your festivals, "" And it has taken you away with it.

Young's Literal Translation
Lo, I am pushing away before you the seed, And have scattered dung before your faces, Dung of your festivals, And it hath taken you away with it.

Smith's Literal Translation
Behold me rebuking the seed to you, and I scattered dung upon your faces, the dung of your festivals; and it lifted you up to it.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Behold, I will cast forth an arm to you, and I will scatter across your face the dung of your solemnities, and it will take you to itself.

New American Bible
I will rebuke your offspring; I will spread dung on your faces, Dung from your feasts, and will carry you to it.

New Revised Standard Version
I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and I will put you out of my presence.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Behold, I will rebuke the seed of the ground, and spread dung upon your faces, even dung upon your solemn feasts; and I will cause you to be taken away with it.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Behold, I rebuke the seed of the land and I shall scatter dung on your faces and dung on your feasts and I shall remove you with it
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Behold, I will rebuke the seed for your hurt, And will spread dung upon your faces, Even the dung of your sacrifices; And ye shall be taken away unto it.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Behold, I turn my back upon you, and I will scatter dung upon your faces, the dung of your feasts, and I will carry you away at the same time.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
A Warning to Priests
2If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart. 3Behold, I will rebuke your descendants, and I will spread dung on your faces, the waste from your feasts, and you will be carried off with it. 4Then you will know that I have sent you this commandment so that My covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD of Hosts.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:15-68
If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: / You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. / Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed. ...

Leviticus 26:14-39
If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments, / and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, / then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. ...

Isaiah 1:4-9
Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him. / Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted. / From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil. ...

Jeremiah 6:19-21
Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction. / What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.” / Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I will lay stumbling blocks before this people; fathers and sons alike will be staggered; friends and neighbors will perish.”

Hosea 4:6-10
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children. / The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; they exchanged their Glory for a thing of disgrace. / They feed on the sins of My people and set their hearts on iniquity. ...

Amos 4:6-12
“I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD. / “I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another. One field received rain; another without rain withered. / People staggered from city to city for water to drink, but they were not satisfied; yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD. ...

Zechariah 7:11-14
But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing. / They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts. / And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts. ...

1 Samuel 2:30-34
Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained. / Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no one in it will reach old age. / You will see distress in My dwelling place. Despite all that is good in Israel, no one in your house will ever again reach old age. ...

Lamentations 2:1-2
How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of His anger! He has cast the glory of Israel from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger. / Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah. He brought to the ground and defiled her kingdom and its princes.

Ezekiel 24:13-14
Because of the indecency of your uncleanness I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be purified from your filthiness. You will not be pure again until My wrath against you has subsided. / I, the LORD, have spoken; the time is coming, and I will act. I will not refrain or show pity, nor will I relent. I will judge you according to your ways and deeds,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

Matthew 23:13-36
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter. / Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter. / Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. ...

Luke 11:42-52
Woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. / Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces. / Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without even noticing.” ...

Romans 1:18-32
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. / For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. / For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. ...

Galatians 6:7-8
Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return. / The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Hebrews 10:26-31
If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, / but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries. / Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ...


Treasury of Scripture

Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

I will.

Joel 1:17
The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

corrupt.

Malachi 2:9
Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

1 Samuel 2:29,30
Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? …

1 Kings 14:10
Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.

one shall take you away with it.

Jump to Previous
Arm Carried Corrupt Cut Descendants Dung Faces Feasts Festival Festivals Hurt Offal Offerings Offspring Presence Pushing Rebuke Refuse Sacrifices Scattered Seed Solemn Spread Waste
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Arm Carried Corrupt Cut Descendants Dung Faces Feasts Festival Festivals Hurt Offal Offerings Offspring Presence Pushing Rebuke Refuse Sacrifices Scattered Seed Solemn Spread Waste
Malachi 2
1. He sharply reproves the priests for neglecting their covenant;
10. and the people for marrying strange wives;
13. and for putting away their former ones,
17. and for infidelity.














Behold
This word serves as a call to attention, urging the audience to listen carefully to the forthcoming message. In Hebrew, the word is "hinneh," which is often used in the Old Testament to introduce a significant announcement or divine revelation. It emphasizes the seriousness and urgency of God's message to the priests, highlighting the need for immediate attention and reflection.

I will rebuke
The Hebrew root for "rebuke" is "ga'ar," which conveys a strong reprimand or correction. This is not a gentle admonition but a stern warning from God. In the context of Malachi, God is addressing the priests who have failed in their duties, emphasizing that divine correction is imminent. This rebuke is a call to repentance and a return to faithful service.

your descendants
The term here refers to the offspring or future generations of the priests. In Hebrew, "zera" is used, which can mean seed or progeny. This indicates that the consequences of the priests' actions will extend beyond their immediate lives, affecting their lineage. It underscores the biblical principle that the sins of one generation can impact the next, urging leaders to consider the long-term effects of their spiritual negligence.

I will spread dung on your faces
This vivid imagery is meant to shock and convey the depth of God's displeasure. In ancient Israel, dung was considered unclean and was associated with waste and defilement. The act of spreading dung on someone's face symbolizes utter disgrace and humiliation. It reflects the seriousness of the priests' failure to honor God, as they have allowed corruption to taint their sacred duties.

the waste from your feasts
The "waste" refers to the refuse or leftovers from the sacrificial feasts, which were meant to be holy and pleasing to God. Instead, these feasts have become a source of defilement due to the priests' improper conduct. The Hebrew word "peresh" is used, indicating the offal or refuse that should be discarded. This highlights the priests' failure to maintain the sanctity of worship, turning what should be sacred into something profane.

and you will be carried off with it
This phrase signifies the removal or disposal of the priests along with the waste, symbolizing their rejection and exclusion from God's presence. The imagery of being "carried off" suggests being cast out or removed from a place of honor. It serves as a warning of the severe consequences of failing to uphold God's standards, emphasizing the need for purity and reverence in worship.

(3) I will corrupt your seed.--Better, I will destroy for you the seed--viz., of the crops. It must be remembered that because the people neglected to pay the tithes, the Levites were obliged to go and till the fields (Nehemiah 13:10). The LXX. for "seed" reads "corn."

Dung of your solemn feasts.--Or rather, of your festival sacrifices. (Comp. Exodus 23:18; Psalm 118:27.) The dung of the sacrificial animals was to be carried to an unclean place outside the camp, and burnt there. The priests, because they had profaned God's Name by offering unfit animals in sacrifice, were to be treated in the most ignominious manner.

And one shall take you away with it--i.e., according to a Hebrew idiom, and ye shall be carried away to it (comp. Isaiah 8:4):--ye shall be treated like it.

Verse 3. - I will corrupt your seed. Henderson, "I will rebuke the seed to your hurt." God would mar the promise of their crops; but, as the priests did not concern themselves with agriculture, such a threat would have had no particular application to them. It is best, therefore, to take the pointing of some of the versions, and to translate, I will rebuke your arm; i.e. I will take from you the power of performing, or, I will neutralize your official duties, the arm being the instrument of labour, offering, and blessing. Others consider the threat to be that they should be deprived of their allotted portion of the sacrifice - the breast and shoulder (Leviticus 7:31, 32), or the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the maw (Deuteronomy 18:3). Septuagint, Ἀφορίζω ὑμῖν τὸν ω΅μον, "I take from you the shoulder;" Vulgate, Ego projiciam vobis brachium. Orelli takes "seed" in the sense of posterity, seeing here a reversal of such promises as Jeremiah 33:18, 22. Spread dung upon your faces. God will deliver them over to shameful treatment, which shall cover them with contempt. The idea is derived from the filth left in the courts by the victims (see the following clause). Your solemn feasts (chaggim); ie. the animals slain at the sacrificial feasts. God calls them "your," not "my," because they were not celebrated really in his honor, but after their own self-will and pleasure. The dung of the sacrificial animals was by the Law carried forth and bunted without the camp (Exodus 29:14; Leviticus 4:12; Leviticus 16:27). One shall take you away with it. They shall be treated as filth, and cast away in some foul spot (comp. 1 Kings 14:10).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Behold,
הִנְנִ֨י (hin·nî)
Interjection | first person common singular
Strong's 2005: Lo! behold!

I will rebuke
גֹעֵ֤ר (ḡō·‘êr)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1605: To rebuke

your
לָכֶם֙ (lā·ḵem)
Preposition | second person masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew

descendants,
הַזֶּ֔רַע (haz·ze·ra‘)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2233: Seed, fruit, plant, sowing-time, posterity

and I will spread
וְזֵרִ֤יתִי (wə·zê·rî·ṯî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 2219: To toss about, to diffuse, winnow

dung
פֶ֙רֶשׁ֙ (p̄e·reš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6569: Fecal matter

on
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

your faces,
פְּנֵיכֶ֔ם (pə·nê·ḵem)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine plural
Strong's 6440: The face

the waste
פֶּ֖רֶשׁ (pe·reš)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 6569: Fecal matter

from your feasts,
חַגֵּיכֶ֑ם (ḥag·gê·ḵem)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine plural
Strong's 2282: A festival gathering, feast, pilgrim feast

and you will be carried off
וְנָשָׂ֥א (wə·nā·śā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5375: To lift, carry, take

with it.”
אֵלָֽיו׃ (’ê·lāw)
Preposition | third person masculine singular
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to


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OT Prophets: Malachi 2:3 Behold I will rebuke your seed (Malachi Mal Ml)
Malachi 2:2
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