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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Mal 3 V1 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18
OET (OET-LV) And_who will_endure DOM the_day_of his_coming and_who is_the_one_who_will_stand when_appears_he if/because he is_like_the_fire a_refiner and_like_the_soap washers.
OET (OET-RV) But who could survive it when he comes? Who can stand when he appears, because he’ll be like the refiner’s fire and like the cleaners’ powerful soap?
2:17 is a transitional verse. In 2:10–16 Malachi and the LORD listed ways that the priests and people had been unfaithful. In 2:17, the focus becomes the LORD’s response to this unfaithfulness. So it seems best to consider 2:17 as the beginning of a new section, rather than as the end of the preceding section.
Notice also that this verse contains Malachi’s typical structure for beginning a new section:
a statement by the LORD,
a question challenging the LORD’s statement,
and then the development of the theme of the section.
See note 6 in “Literary structure and recurring features in Malachi” in the Introduction.
This verse contains two more rhetorical questions (in 3:2a and 3:2b). They are parallel to each other:
2aBut who can endure the day of His coming,
2bAnd who can stand when He appears?
The LORD used these rhetorical questions to remind the people about something they all knew was true:
No one would be able to face the one whom he would send to judge them.
They would not be able to defend themselves before this judge.
Use the appropriate grammatical form in your language to show this in each of these verse parts.
But who can endure the day of His coming?
¶ But will anyone endure his judgement on the day when he comes?
¶ When he the Lord comes to judge/punish people, no one will be able to survive that day.
But: The word But in the BSB translates the Hebrew conjunction w-. Here it indicates a contrast between 3:1 and 3:2. The actual coming of the LORD would not be like the people expected or desired. Express the contrast in a natural way in your language.
His coming: The words His in 3:2a and “He” in 3:2b refer to the Lord (Jesus Christ—the Messiah) spoken of in 3:1b. See also the note in 3:1d.Interpretation (1) is supported by Alden (1985), page 719, Clarke (1823), page 805, Lange (1876), pages 19–20, Redditt (1995), page 176, and by CEV, NASB and an NIV footnote. Interpretation (2) is supported by Merrill (1994) pages 431–433. Merrill, however, is inconsistent in that he capitalizes “He” in his translation, suggestion that the messenger is Jesus.
And who can stand when He appears?
Will anyone be able to stand before him when he reveals himself?
No one will be able to stand/defend-himself.
And who can stand: The Hebrew expression which the BSB translates as can stand means almost the same as the verb which the BSB translates as “endure” in 3:2a. The idea is that no one will succeed in defending himself before the LORD when he comes to judge. In some languages it may be helpful to make that idea explicit. For example:
Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? (NLT)
Who will be able to survive when he appears? (GNT)
For He will be like a refiner’s fire,
For he will be like the very hot fire that burns all the impurities in metal until it is pure.
a refiner’s fire: The word refiner refers to a person who purified metal by heating it until it was red hot. The very hot fire burned away all the impurities which were in the metal until only the pure metal remained.
like a launderer’s soap.
He will be like soap that washes clothes clean.
like a launderer’s soap: The word launderer’s refers to a person who washed/laundered clothes. He used a very strong soap to remove dirt and stains from cloth.
The point of similarity in both metaphors is the same. In the first metaphor, the Lord will purify the people, just as a refiner’s fire refines/purifies metal and destroys the impurities in it. In the second metaphor, he will cleanse his people, just as the launderer’s strong soap cleans the dirt from dirty clothes.
GNT changes the order of 3:2c and 3:2d, possibly because 3:3 continues the illustration of refining metal.
2dHe will be like strong soap, 2clike a fire that refines metal.
You should use the order that is most natural in your language.
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
וּמִ֤י מְכַלְכֵּל֙ אֶת־י֣וֹם בּוֹא֔וֹ וּמִ֥י הָעֹמֵ֖ד בְּהֵרָֽאוֹת֑וֹ כִּֽי־הוּא֙ כְּאֵ֣שׁ מְצָרֵ֔ף וּכְבֹרִ֖ית מְכַבְּסִֽים
and,who? endure DOM day of,his_coming and,who? [is]_the,[one_who_will]_stand when,appears,he that/for/because/then/when he/it [is]_like_[the],fire refiner's and,like_[the],soap fullers'
If it would be more natural in your language, you could reverse the order of these phrases, since the second phrase gives the reason for the result that the first phrase describes. Alternate translation: [He will be like the fire of a refiner and like the soap of launderers. So who will be able to endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears?]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion
וּמִ֤י מְכַלְכֵּל֙ אֶת־י֣וֹם בּוֹא֔וֹ וּמִ֥י הָעֹמֵ֖ד בְּהֵרָֽאוֹת֑וֹ
and,who? endure DOM day of,his_coming and,who? [is]_the,[one_who_will]_stand when,appears,he
Yahweh is using the question form for emphasis. If a speaker of your language would not use the question form for that purpose, you could translate this as a statement or as an exclamation. Alternate translation: [No one will be able to endure the day of his coming! No one will be able to stand when he appears!]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism
וּמִ֤י מְכַלְכֵּל֙ אֶת־י֣וֹם בּוֹא֔וֹ וּמִ֥י הָעֹמֵ֖ד בְּהֵרָֽאוֹת֑וֹ
and,who? endure DOM day of,his_coming and,who? [is]_the,[one_who_will]_stand when,appears,he
These two phrases mean basically the same thing. The second emphasizes the meaning of the first by repeating the same idea with different words. Hebrew poetry was based on this kind of repetition, and it would be good to show this to your readers by including both phrases in your translation rather than combining them. It may be clearer in your language to connect the phrases with a word other than “and” in order to show that the second phrase is repeating the first one, not saying something additional. Alternate translation: [No one will be able to endure the day of his coming! Indeed, no one will be able to stand when he appears!]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
הָעֹמֵ֖ד
[is]_the,[one_who_will]_stand
Yahweh is using the image of standing to speak of a person being declared innocent. The idea is that if he were declared guilty, that would be like a weight too heavy for the person to carry, and the person would sink down under it. If it would be clearer in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [will be declared innocent]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / simile
הוּא֙ כְּאֵ֣שׁ מְצָרֵ֔ף וּכְבֹרִ֖ית מְכַבְּסִֽים
he/it [is]_like_[the],fire refiner's and,like_[the],soap fullers'
The point of this comparison is that just as fire refines metal and soap cleans clothes, so the messenger will purify the people, that is, he will help them forsake the sins they have been committing. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make this point explicitly. Alternate translation: [just as fire refines metal and soap cleans clothes, he will purify people by helping them stop sinning]
3:2 blazing fire: The dross of the people’s wickedness must be burned away by the fires of divine testing and chastisement (Isa 1:25; Jer 6:29; Ezek 22:22).
• strong soap: An alkaline detergent was made from plants (see Jer 2:22). The blazing fire and strong soap signify the testing (by smelting) and cleansing (by laundering) that would restore Israel’s faithfulness to its covenant with the Lord.
OET (OET-LV) And_who will_endure DOM the_day_of his_coming and_who is_the_one_who_will_stand when_appears_he if/because he is_like_the_fire a_refiner and_like_the_soap washers.
OET (OET-RV) But who could survive it when he comes? Who can stand when he appears, because he’ll be like the refiner’s fire and like the cleaners’ powerful soap?
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.
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