MAL 3:17 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) “They’ll be mine,” says army-commander Yahweh. “On the day when I assemble my treasured possession, I won’t punish those people, just like a father doesn’t punish his son who obeys him.

Key: khaki:verbs, green:YHWH.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

BrLXX Καὶ ἔσονταί μοι, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ, εἰς ἡμέραν, ἣν ἐγὼ ποιῶ, εἰς περιποίησιν, καὶ αἱρετιῶ αὐτοὺς, ὃν τρόπον αἱρετίζει ἄνθρωπος τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, τὸν δουλεύοντα αὐτῷ.
(Kai esontai moi, legei Kurios pantokratōr, eis haʸmeran, haʸn egō poiō, eis peripoiaʸsin, kai hairetiō autous, hon tropon hairetizei anthrōpos ton huion autou, ton douleuonta autōi. )

BrTr And they shall be [fn]mine, saith the Lord Almighty, in the day which I appoint for a peculiar possession; and I will make choice of them, as a man makes choice of his son that serves him.

ULT “And they will be to me,” says Yahweh of Armies, “a special possession on the day that I am preparing. And I will have compassion on them just as a man has compassion on his son, the one serving him.

UST Then Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, said, “These people especially will belong to me. On the day when I judge people, I will spare them from punishment. I will treat them kindly, just as parents treat kindly the children who obey them.

OEB ‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘my special possession on that day that I am preparing. I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

WEBBE They shall be mine,” says the LORD of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make. I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

WMBB They shall be mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “my own possession in the day that I make. I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

NET “They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

LSV And they have been to Me,” said YHWH of Hosts,
“In the day that I am appointing—a peculiar treasure,
And I have had pity on them,
As one has pity on his son who is serving him.

FBV They shall be mine, says the Lord Almighty, my prized possession on the day when I take action. I will treat them kindly, as a father treats an obedient son.

T4T The Commander of the armies of angels says this about those people: “They will be my people. At the time that I judge people, they will be like [MET] a special treasure to me. I will be kind to them, like [SIM] fathers are kind to their sons who obey them.

LEB “They will be mine,” says Yahweh of hosts, “on the day that I am acting, my treasured possession. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.

BBE And they will be mine, says the Lord, in the day when I make them my special property; and I will have mercy on them as a man has mercy on his son who is his servant.

Moff “And I will claim them,” the Lord of hosts declares, “as my own prized possession, on the day when I take action; I will spare them, as a man spares the son who works in his service.

JPS And they shall be Mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in the day that I do make, even Mine own treasure; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

ASV And they shall be mine, saith Jehovah of hosts, even mine own possession, in the day that I make; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

DRA And they shall be my special possession, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do judgment: and I will spare them, as a man spareth his son that serveth him.

YLT And they have been to Me, said Jehovah of Hosts, In the day that I am appointing — a peculiar treasure, And I have had pity on them, As one hath pity on his son who is serving him.

Drby And they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

RV And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in the day that I do make, even a peculiar treasure; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
(And they shall be mine, saith/says the LORD of hosts/armies, in the day that I do make, even a peculiar treasure; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth/serves him. )

SLT And they were to me, said Jehovah of armies, for the day which I make wealth; and I spared for them as a man will spare for the son serving him.

Wbstr And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

KJB-1769 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.[fn]
(And they shall be mine, saith/says the LORD of hosts/armies, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth/serves him. )

3.17 jewels: or, special treasure

KJB-1611 [fn]And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make vp my iewels, and I wil spare them as a man spareth his owne sonne that serueth him.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)

3:17 Or, speciall treasure.

Bshps And they shalbe to me, saith the Lorde of hoastes, in that day wherein I shall do iudgement, a stocke: and I wyl spare them as a man spareth his owne sonne which serueth him.
(And they shall be to me, saith/says the Lord of hosts/armies, in that day wherein I shall do judgement, a stock: and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son which serveth/serves him.)

Gnva And they shall be to me, sayeth the Lord of hostes, in that day that I shall do this, for a flocke, and I will spare them, as a man spareth his owne sonne that serueth him.
(And they shall be to me, saith/says the Lord of hosts/armies, in that day that I shall do this, for a flock, and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth/serves him. )

Cvdl And in the daye that I wil make (saieth ye LORDE of hoostes) they shalbe myne owne possession: and I will fauoure them, like as a man fauoureth his owne sonne, that doth him seruyce.
(And in the day that I will make (saith/says ye/you_all LORD of hosts/armies) they shall be mine own possession: and I will favour them, like as a man favoureth/favours his own son, that doth/does him service.)

Wycl And thei schulen be to me, seith the Lord of oostis, in the dai in which Y schal make, in to a special tresour; and Y schal spare hem, as a man sparith his sone seruynge to hym.
(And they should be to me, saith/says the Lord of hosts/armies, in the day in which I shall make, in to a special treasure; and I shall spare hem, as a man sparith his son serving to him.)

Luth Sie sollen, spricht der HErr Zebaoth, des Tages, den ich machen will, mein Eigentum sein; und ich will ihrer schonen, wie ein Mann seines Sohns schonet, der ihm dienet.
(They/She should, speaks/says the/of_the LORD Tsevaot_(of_armies), the day, the I make will, my Eigentum be; and I will of_their/her protect, as/like a man his son protects, the/of_the him serves.)

ClVg Et erunt mihi, ait Dominus exercituum, in die qua ego facio, in peculium: et parcam eis, sicut parcit vir filio suo servienti sibi.
(And they_will_be to_me, he_said Master hosts/soldiers, in/into/on day which I I_do, in/into/on peculium: and I_will_spare to_them, like parcit man son his_own to_the_servant to_himself. )

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 3:6–18: If the people again start to give the LORD what they owe him, he will again bless them

Notice that this section also starts with the “Statement, Question, Response” pattern. However this time the sequence is expanded. The “Statement-Question” part occurs twice before a longer “Response” is given. (Another difference is that the second statement begins with a short question.) The “Statement-Question-Response” pattern marks the beginning of a new section.

3:6 is a transitional verse, as 2:17 was. Again, it is recommended that you take it as the first verse of this new section.

3:17a

“They will be Mine,”

“I will make these people who revere me my very own,”

They will be Mine: This indicates that the people who feared the LORD would belong to him in a special sense as his people. This may be difficult to express in some languages. It may seem obvious that everyone and everything already belongs to the LORD. This is true in the sense that he has control over them. However the meaning in this verse is that the LORD will give these people a special relationship with himself.

They: This refers to the people who feared the LORD and who have just been mentioned in 3:16.

3:17b

says the LORD of Hosts,

Yahweh Sabaot declares,
Yahweh Sabaot says,

says the LORD of Hosts: See the note on 3:1f.

the LORD of Hosts: See the note on 3:1f.

3:17c

“on the day when I prepare My treasured possession.

“on that day when I will act to judge people. I will cause them to be like a special treasure to me.

on the day when I prepare My treasured possession: There are different interpretations of this verse part. The two major views are:

The Hebrew verb which the BSB translates as prepare has a general meaning. What the LORD will do on the day is not mentioned specifically here. For example:
On the day when I act, they will be my own special treasure. (NLT) (RSV, NJB, GNT, NLT, NJPS, REB)
The Hebrew verb which the BSB translates as prepare relates specifically to the expression which the BSB translates as My treasured possession. For example:
in the day when I make up my treasured possession. (NIV) (BSB, NIV, NET, NASB, KJV, GW)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The Hebrew word translated prepare is a general word. However, in this context it refers to the day when the LORD will act as judge to punish or reward people.

My treasured possession: This expression reflects the words of the covenant which the LORD made with the people of Israel at Sinai. In that covenant he chose them to be his own people, to belong to him (Exodus 19:5). The expression used here (My treasured possession) implies that they were special to him and that he would especially value them.

In some languages, it may not be natural to speak of people as a possession in this way. Some other possibilities for translation are:

Use a simile. For example:
They will be like a treasure to me.
They will be as precious to me as a king’s most treasured possession.
Omit the reference to a possession.
they will be my very own. (GNT)
they will be my own special treasure. (NLT)
You people are precious to me. (CEV)

Use an option which will be natural in your language.

General Comment on 3:17a–c

In some languages it may be more natural to re-order some of the information in 3:17a–c. For example:

^17bYahweh Sabaot says, ^17c“On that day when I will come and judge people, I will take these people who respected me to belong to me in a special way ^17aand they will be my very own.”

^17bThe Lord All-Powerful says, ^17a“They belong to me; ^17con that day they will be my very own.” (NCV)

3:17d

And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.

In compassion I will spare them from judgement, just as a father shows compassion/mercy to his child who obeys him.
As a father shows mercy to his obedient child and does not punish him severely, I will also show mercy to them.

I will spare them: The Hebrew verb which the BSB translates as spare indicates that the LORD would have mercy on these people and spare them from judgement. That is, he would not punish them. Most English versions use the word spare (BSB, RSV, NIV, NET, NLT, REB, KJV, NASB NJB GW), but some versions use the idea of “mercy,” “compassion,” or “protection.” (GNT, CEV, NCV, NJPS) Here are examples of translation possibilities:

I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. (NIV)

As a parent shows mercy to his child who serves him, I will show mercy to my people. (NCV)

who serves him: This refers to a person who loyally obeys the LORD and submits to his will. Use a natural expression in your language for obeying or submitting to someone in authority. This same expression is also used in 3:18b.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

וְ⁠הָ֣יוּ לִ֗⁠י אָמַר֙ יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֔וֹת & סְגֻלָּ֑ה

and=they_will_be to=me he/it_had_said YHWH armies/messengers & treasured_possession

If your language does not use abstract nouns for the ideas of possession, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [“And I will possess them” says Yahweh of Armies, “in a special way”]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

לַ⁠יּ֕וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֲנִ֖י עֹשֶׂ֣ה

to,day which/who I producing

Yahweh speaks as if he is preparing a day. If it would be clearer in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [at the time when I act, as I am now preparing to do]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / simile

כַּֽ⁠אֲשֶׁר֙

just,as