to turn off (literal or figurative) · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
way
הַדֶּ֔רֶךְha.De.rekh
H1870
a road (as trodden) · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
many
רַבִּ֖יםra.Bim
H7227
abundant (in quantity · adjective, masculine plural absolute
stumble
הִכְשַׁלְתֶּ֥םhikh.shal.Tem
H3782
to totter or waver (through weakness of the legs · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
law
בַּתּוֹרָ֑הba.to.Rah
H8451
a precept or statute · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
corrupted
שִֽׁחַתֶּם֙shi.cha.Tem
H7843
to decay · verb, piel perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
covenant
בְּרִ֣יתbe.Rit
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · noun, common feminine singular construct
Levi
הַלֵּוִ֔יha.le.Vi
H3878
Levi · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
saith
אָמַ֖ר'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֥הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
hosts
צְבָאֽוֹתtze.va.'ot
H6635
a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common feminine plural 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
Nehemiah 13:29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.
Jeremiah 17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Jeremiah 18:15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient…
1 Samuel 2:17 Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.
Isaiah 30:11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Ezekiel 44:10 And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even b…
Malachi 2:5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
Leviticus 21:15 Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Malachi 2:1-9
What was said in the foregoing chapter was directed to the priests (Mal 1:6): Thus saith the Lord of hosts to you, O priests! that despise my name. But the crimes there charged upon them they were guilty of as sacrificers, and for those they might think it some excuse that they offered what the people brought, and therefore that, if they were not so good as they should be, it was not their fault, but the people's; and therefore here the corruptions there complained of are traced to the source and spring of them - the faults the priests were guilty of as teachers of the people, as expositors of the law and the lively oracles; and this is a part of their office which still remains in the hands…
out of the way--that is, from the covenant.
caused many to stumble--By scandalous example, the worse inasmuch as the people look up to you as ministers of religion (Sa1 2:17; Jer 18:15; Mat 18:6; Luk 17:1).
at the law--that is, in respect to the observances of the law.
corrupted . . . covenant--made it of none effect, by not fulfilling its conditions, and so forfeiting its promises (Zac 11:10; Neh 13:29).
John Gill on Malachi 2:8
But ye are departed out of the way,.... Of truth and righteousness, of life and peace, of eternal salvation and happiness, pointed to by Christ and his forerunner, and by his apostles and ministers that followed him, and which was clearly showed in the preaching of the Gospel: this was the character of the chief priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, in Christ's time, to which the prophet seems to have respect; who not only failed in their observance of legal sacrifices, complained of in the former chapter Malachi 1:1, but left that way of atonement and salvation they directed to, and led others out of the way with them:
ye have caused many to stumble at the law; at the doctrine of justification…
(Vers. 8, 9.) But you have departed from the way, and have caused many to stumble in the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, because you have not kept my ways, and have had respect of persons in the law. LXX: But you have turned aside from my way, and have made many weak in the law, you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Almighty Lord. And I gave you contemptible and dissolute ones to all nations, because you did not keep my ways, but showed partiality in the law. This does not pertain to the person of Christ, nor to those who are dedicated to his worship, even if I remain silent, the wise reader understands. And the meaning is: I wanted to make you do what is contained in the previous chapter, and what I spoke through Moses in Deuteronomy: Give his teaching and truth to the righteous man (Deut. XXXIII, 8, sec. LXX), and the rest: but you have departed from the straight path, or deviated, as I said: Do not turn to the right or to the left (Deut. V, 32); and you have made many weak in the law, or caused them to stumble, as Aquila and Symmachus translated. To turn to the right is to abstain from the foods that God created for use; to condemn marriage and to fall into that which is written in another place: Do not be overly righteous (Eccl. 7:17). To turn to the left is to give oneself over to luxury and lust, and to cause scandal to many in the law. It is better for such a person to have a millstone tied around their neck and be thrown into the sea, than to cause one of the least of these to stumble. But many make the weak, who, having received the strength of faith in Christ, make them weak by their negligent behavior, of whom rightly it is said: You have made void the covenant of Levi, the covenant of life and peace, and other things which we have said pertain to the priest's duty. For this reason, I too have made you contemptible and lowly to all the people, so that they would despise you and trample upon your honor and glory: Because you have not kept my ways and have shown partiality in the law. Among all the sins of Levi, or those who are from Levi, the priests of God, that one is placed last and greatest, why they receive faces in the law, so that they consider not causes, but persons, despising the just poor, receiving and honoring…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Malachi — Messenger or angel, the last of the minor prophets, and the writer of the last book of the Old Testament canon (Mal. 4:4, 5, 6). Nothing is known of him beyond what is contained in his book of…
Offence · Punishment for occasioning — Punishment for occasioning
Priests · Were sometimes: Corrupters of the law — Were sometimes: Corrupters of the law
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 2:8
8. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
8. Atqui vos declinastis e via, impingere (vel, ruere) fecistis multos in lege; corrupistis foedus Levi, dicit Iehova exercituum.
He shows here how far were the priests of his time from fulfilling that compact which he had mentioned. He hence concludes that they were unworthy of the honor of which they were so confidently proud, and under the shadow of which they sought to cover their vices, as though they were not bound to God, and were at liberty to tread the Church under foot with impunity. He then shows that it was an extremely…
Mal 2:8. "But ye have departed from the way, have made many to stumble at the law, have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. Mal 2:9. Thus I also make you despised and base with all the people, inasmuch as ye do not keep my ways, and respect person in the law." הדּרך is the way depicted in Mal 2:6 and Mal 2:7, in which the priests ought to have walked. הכשׁלתּם בּתּורה does not mean "ye have caused to fall by instruction" (Koehler); for, in the first place, hattōrâh (with the article) is not the instruction or teaching of the priests, but the law of God; and secondly, ב with כּשׁל denotes the object against which a man stumbles and which causes him to fall. Hitzig has gi…
The priests had been entrusted with the sacred knowledge of God as revealed in the law of Moses. Through their role as teachers, they were guardians of God’s covenant with Israel (Deut 33:9-10). • messenger (Hebrew mal’ak): This may be a wordplay on the name Malachi (mal’aki). Usually this title was reserved for Hebrew prophets in the Old Testament, but Malachi ascribes prophetic duties to the priest, since the priests were to interpret God’s word.
