Malachi 2:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Malachi 2:17
Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
properly · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
words
בְּדִבְרֵיכֶ֔םbe.div.rei.Khem
H1697
a word · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
say
וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖םva.'a.mar.Tem
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
wearied
הוֹגָ֑עְנוּho.Ga.'e.nu
H3021
properly · verb, hiphil perfect, 1st person common plural
say
בֶּאֱמָרְכֶ֗םbe.'e.ma.re.Khem
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
doeth
עֹ֨שֵׂה'O.seh
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct
evil
רָ֜עra'
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
good
ט֣וֹבTov
H2896
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
sight
בְּעֵינֵ֣יbe.'ei.Nei
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct
LORD
יְהוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
delighteth
חָפֵ֔ץcha.Fetz
H2654
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
God
אֱלֹהֵ֥י'e.lo.Hei
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
judgment
הַמִּשְׁפָּֽטha.mish.Pat
H4941
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 43:24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve wit…
2 Peter 3:3-4 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
Ecclesiastes 8:11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Isaiah 5:18-20 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
Isaiah 30:18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for t…
Zephaniah 1:12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that s…
1 Samuel 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weig…
Job 34:17 Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Malachi 2:10–end
Corrupt practices are the genuine fruit and product of corrupt principles; and the badness of men's hearts and lives is owing to some loose atheistical notions which they have got and which they govern themselves by. Now, in these verses, we have an instance of this; we here find men dealing falsely with one another, and it is because they think falsely of their God. Observe,
I. How corrupt their practices were. In general, they dealt treacherously every man against his brother, Mal 2:10. It cannot be expected that he who is false to his God should be true to his friend. They had dealt treacherously with God in his tithes and offerings, and had defrauded him, and thus conscience was debauche…
wearied . . . Lord-- (Isa 43:24). This verse forms the transition to Mal 3:1, &c. The Jewish skeptics of that day said virtually, God delighteth in evil-doers (inferring this from the prosperity of the surrounding heathen, while they, the Jews, were comparatively not prosperous: forgetting that their attendance to minor and external duties did not make up for their neglect of the weightier duties of the law; for example, the duty they owed their wives, just previously discussed); or (if not) Where (is the proof that He is) the God of judgment? To this the reply (Mal 3:1) is, "The Lord whom ye seek, and whom as messenger of the covenant (that is, divine ratifier of God's covenant with Israel)…
Ye have wearied the Lord with your words,.... As well as with their actions; see Isaiah 43:24 this is said after the manner of men, they saying those things which were displeasing and provoking to him, and which he could not bear to hear; or otherwise weariness properly cannot be attributed to God:
Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? as if they were clear and innocent; or, as the Targum, "if ye should say"; though they might not express themselves in words in such an impudent manner; yet should they say so in their hearts, or supposing they should utter such words with their lips, out of the abundance of their evil hearts, the answer is ready:
When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is…
The Church Fathers
Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up. It was such complaints as these that compelled the prophet to anticipate, as it were, the last judgment in which the wicked will be so far from even a pretense of happiness that their misery will be apparent to all, whereas the good, untroubled by even transitory sorrow, will enjoy a manifest and unending blessedness. Malachi had already given a similar illustration of the kind of murmurings that wearied the Lord: "Everyone who does evil is [thought to be] good in the sight of the Lord and as such pleases him." The only point I want to make is that such murmurings against God were the result of an unspiritual interpretation of the law.
(Verse 17.) You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you say: in what way have we wearied Him? In that you say: everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please Him; or certainly where is the God of justice? LXX: You have provoked the Lord with your words, and you say: in what way have we provoked you? In that you say: everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and in these things he delights; and where is the God of righteousness? This place is more fully described by the seventy-second psalm, the beginning of which is: How good is God to those who are upright in heart! But my feet were almost moved: my steps were almost poured out: for I was jealous of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners: For there is no regard for their death, nor is there a firm foundation in their affliction. They are not troubled by the toil of men, and they will not be scourged with men (Ps. 72, 1 seqq). And then I said, therefore I have justified my heart without cause: and have washed my hands among the innocent. So when the people returned from Babylon and saw all the nations around them, and saw them serving the idols of Babylon, and abounding in wealth, and flourishing in their bodies, and possessing all the things that are considered good in this world; but as for me who have knowledge of God, I am covered in squalor, hunger, and servitude, and I am scandalized and say: There is no providence in human affairs, everything is carried by uncertain chance, and is not governed by God's judgment, but rather evil pleases Him, and good displeases Him. Or surely if God judges all things, where is His fair and just judgment? This kind of question, unbelievably, is continually raised to God regarding the future, and when He sees the wicked powerful, He sees the humble saints abounding in all things, even not having those things necessary for sustenance; and sometimes with deaf ears and blind eyes, and with sores in every part of their bodies, and burdened by weakness, like Lazarus in the Gospel (Luke 16) who, covered in purple, desired to be nourished by the crumbs that were thrown from the remnants of tables; but the rich person, in such great cruelty and brutality, does not have compassion on a fellow human, whom even the tongue of dogs has compassion on, not understanding the time of judgement, nor that those things which are eternal…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Malachi 2:17
17. Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
17. Fatigastis Iehovam in verbis vestris, et dixistis, In quo fatigavimus eum? Quum dicitis, Quicunque facit malum gratus est in oculis Iehovae, et in ipsis se oblectat; vel, Ubi Deus judicii?
The Prophet here reproves the Jews who expostulated with God in their adversity, as though he had undeservedly forsaken them, and had not brought them immediate help. Thus are hypocrites wont to do; unless God immediately assists them, they not only indirectly complain…
"Ye weary Jehovah with your words, and say, Wherewith do we weary? In that ye say, Every evil-doer is good in the eyes of Jehovah, and He takes pleasure in them, or where is the God of judgment?" The persons who are introduced as speaking here are neither the pious Israelites, who were not only pressed down by the weight of their heavy afflictions, but indignant at the prosperity of their godless countrymen, and were thus impelled to give utterance to despairing complaints, and doubts as to the justice of God (Theodoret); nor a middle class between the truly pious and perfectly godless, consisting of those who were led by a certain instinctive need to adopt the faith inherited from the fathe…
Malachi’s fourth message concerns the disparity between God’s justice and human justice (2:17). If the book of Malachi were a courtroom drama, the fourth message would be the formal indictment against Judah. Malachi indicts dutiful but heartless religiosity (see 3:14) that acts contrary to God’s justice; he appeals for honesty and genuine social concern.
2:17 Malachi’s audience had wearied God by questioning his justice.
