a word · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
stout
חָזְק֥וּcha.ze.Ku
H2388
to fasten upon · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
saith
אָמַ֣ר'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
say
וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֕םva.'a.mar.Tem
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
spoken
נִּדְבַּ֖רְנוּnid.Bar.nu
H1696
perhaps properly · verb, niphal perfect, 1st person common plural
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
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 sig…
Isaiah 37:23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the H…
Romans 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Malachi 1:6-8 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? s…
2 Thessalonians 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewi…
Exodus 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
2 Chronicles 32:14-19 Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that yo…
Job 34:7-8 What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Malachi 3:13–end
Among the people of the Jews at this time, though they all enjoyed the same privileges and advantages, there were men of very different characters (as ever were, and ever will be, in the world and in the church), like Jeremiah's figs, some very good and others very bad, some that plainly appeared to be the children of God and others that as plainly discovered themselves to be the children of the wicked one. There are tares and wheat in the same field, chaff and corn in the same floor; and here we have an account of both.
I. Here is the angry notice God takes of the impudent blasphemous talk of the sinners in Zion and his just resentments of it. Probably there was a club of them that were in…
He notices the complaint of the Jews that it is of no profit to serve Jehovah, for that the ungodly proud are happy; and declares He will soon bring the day when it shall be known that He puts an everlasting distinction between the godly and the ungodly.
words . . . stout--Hebrew, "hard"; so "the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (Jde 1:15) [HENDERSON].
have we spoken--The Hebrew expresses at once their assiduity and habit of speaking against God [VATABLUS]. The niphal form of the verb implies that these things were said, not directly to God, but of God, to one another (Eze 33:20) [MOORE].
John Gill on Malachi 3:13
Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord,.... Hard and strong; they bore very hardly upon him, were exceeding impudent and insolent; murmuring at his providence; arraigning his justice and goodness; and despising his word, worship, and ordinances. Aben Ezra says, this is a prophecy concerning the time to come, that is, the times of the Messiah; and so it describes the Jews in his times.
Yet ye say, what have we spoken so much against thee? or "what have we spoken against thee?" as if they were not guilty in any respect, and as if nothing could be proved against them; and as though the Lord did not know what they had said in their hearts, seeing they had not spoken it with their…
(Verse 13) Your words have become burdensome to me, says the Lord, and you have said: What have we spoken against you? LXX: You have wearied me with your words, says the Lord. And you said, 'In what way have we spoken against you?' In that, when you were saying: Whoever does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and such people please Him; or certainly where is the God of judgment? Now, he repeats the same more fully: For the people who appeared to have knowledge of God and to observe the law, and to understand their sin, and to offer victims for their sins, to give tithes, to observe the Sabbath, and all the other things that are commanded by the Law of God, seeing that all the nations around them are abundant in all things, he was scandalized by his own poverty, hunger, and misery, and he said: What advantage is it to me that I worship the one true God, reject idols, and in sorrow I go before God with a guilty conscience? The 72nd Psalm, which we mentioned previously, continues more fully and extensively in the same place. Therefore, the prophet, who is a spiritual physician, heals all wounds and declares that blasphemous words against the Creator are cut off. And he speaks in the person of God, saying: 'Your words have prevailed against me, or they have become burdensome.' Indeed, according to Zachariah, wickedness sits upon a talent of lead (Zach. V): and what is said against God is crushed under the heavy weight of blasphemy. Those who do not understand the most serious words and their blasphemy ask, What have we spoken against you?
Those who are spiritually immature put much stock in temporal promises and serve God with an eye to such remunerations. Then, when the people of evil life prosper, they are very much upset. For their enlightenment, Malachi goes on to differentiate the eternal blessedness of the New Testament, which only the good shall win, from the purely earthly good fortune of the old that as often as not comes to the wicked. He says, " 'Your words have been insufferable to me,' says the Lord. And you have said, 'What have we spoken against you?' You have said, 'He labors in vain that serves God, and what profit is it that we have kept ordinances and that we have walked sorrowfully before the Lord of hosts?' Therefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up, and they have tempted God and prospered. Then they that feared the Lord spoke everyone with his neighbor, and the Lord gave ear and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord and think of his name." The book in question is, of course, again the New Testament. Now let us hear the rest. " 'And they shall be my special possession,' says the Lord of hosts, 'in the day that I do judgment; and I will spare the man as a man spares his son who serves him. And you shall return and shall see the difference between the just and the wicked, and between him that serves God and him that serves not. For behold, the day shall come kindled as a furnace, and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble, and the day that comes shall set them on fire,' says the Lord of hosts." That day in question is, of course, the day of the last judgment, concerning which I will have a great deal more to say, God willing, when the proper time comes.
Dictionary and topics
Blasphemy · 7:25;11:36,37; — 7:25;11:36,37;
Condescension Of God · 6:1-9; — 6:1-9;
Infidelity · 1:12; — 1:12;
Malachi · Reproves God’s people for their impietyMal 1;2; — Reproves God’s people for their impietyMal 1;2;
Presumption · .In reviling God — .In reviling God
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).
John Calvin on Malachi 3:13-14
Malachi 3:13-15
13. Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
13. Invaluerunt contra me verba vestra, dicit Iehova; et dixistis, In quo locuti sumus contra te?
14. Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?
14. Dixistis, Frustra servitur Deo et quae utilitas? quia custodivimus custodiam ejus, et quia ambulavimus supplices (vel, humiles; in obscuro vulta, ad verbum) coram facie Iehovae exercituum.
15. And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even de…
The impatient murmuring of the nation. - Mal 3:13. "Your words do violence to me, saith Jehovah; and ye say, What do we converse against Thee? Mal 3:14. Ye say, It is vain to serve God; and what gain is it, that we have kept His guard, and have gone about in deep mourning before Jehovah of hosts? Mal 3:15. And now we call the proud blessed: not only have the doers of wickedness been built up, but they have also tempted God and have been saved." After the Lord has disclosed to the people the cause of His withholding His blessing, He shows them still further, that their murmuring against Him is unjust, and that the coming day of judgment will bring to light the distinction between the wicked a…
Malachi’s final message contains two distinct but related speeches, the first emphasizing service to the Lord (3:13-18) and the second contrasting the fate of the wicked with that of the righteous (4:1-3). Each speech concludes with the messenger formula (see study note on 1:8). The prophet revisits themes from the fourth message (3:1-5) as he reiterates God’s desire for honesty and faithfulness in worship in view of coming judgment on the day of the Lord. If Malachi is a courtroom drama, this last disputation is the sentencing. While wickedness seems to triumph over righteousness and God seems delinquent in judging sin in the community, the coming day of the Lord will vindicate God’s justic…
