Malachi 3:13
What does Malachi 3:13 mean?
A plain-English look at Malachi 3:13 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Malachi 3:13 means
This verse marks a shift in the divine address, as God again confronts the people about their disrespectful attitude and words. He declares, "Your words have been stout against me." The word "stout" implies harsh, insolent, or arrogant speech. Similar to their previous denials, the people feign ignorance, asking, "What have we spoken against thee?" This highlights their spiritual blindness and their unwillingness to acknowledge their own rebellion, setting the stage for God to reveal the specific content of their cynical complaints against Him in the following verses.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee?
KJV
King James Version · 1611Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee?
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Your words have been strong against me, says the Lord. And still you say, What have we said against you?
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Hard against Me have been your words, Said Jehovah, and ye have said: `What have we spoken against Thee?'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Your words have been unsufferable to me, saith the Lord.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah; but ye say, What have we been speaking against thee?
Context
This verse initiates a new dialogue, shifting from the specific issue of tithing and its promised blessings back to the people's broader spiritual apathy and cynicism. It sets a confrontational tone, as God accuses them of speaking harshly against Him, leading directly into their defense and the specific substance of their complaints in verses 14-15.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Job 34:7
What man is like Job, Who drinketh up scoffing like water,
- 2 Chronicles 32:14
Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?
- Jeremiah 8:12
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith Jehovah.
- Isaiah 28:14
Wherefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers, that rule this people that is in Jerusalem:
- Malachi 3:8
Will a man rob God? yet ye rob me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
- Malachi 2:14
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
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