Malachi 3 · Verse 13

Malachi 3:13

Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

Malachi 3:13, King James Version

Malachi 3:13 in other translations

BSB	“Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
WEB	“Your words have been harsh against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’
ASV	Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee?
YLT	Hard against Me have been your words, Said Jehovah, and ye have said: ‘What have we spoken against Thee?'
DARBY	Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah; but ye say, What have we been speaking against thee?
BBE	Your words have been strong against me, says the Lord. And still you say, What have we said against you?
Webster	Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

What does Malachi 3:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Malachi 3:13-18

13-18. 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" (Jude 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].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 13 Your words have been stout against me - He speaks here to open infidels and revilers. What have we spoken - They are ready either to deny the whole, or impudently to maintain and defend what they had spoken!

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Malachi 3:13-18

Among the Jews at this time, some plainly discovered themselves to be children of the wicked one. The yoke of Christ is easy. But those who work wickedness, tempt God by presumptuous sins. Judge of things as they will appear when the doom of these proud sinners comes to be executed. Those that feared the Lord, spake kindly, for preserving and promoting mutual love, when sin thus abounded. They spake one to another, in the language of those that fear the Lord, and think on his name. As evil communications corrupt good minds and manners, so good communications confirm them. A book of remembrance was written before God. He will take care that his children perish not with those that believe not. They shall be vessels of mercy and honour, when the rest are made vessels of wrath and dishonour. The saints are God's jewels; they are dear to him. He will preserve them as his jewels, when the earth is burned up like dross. Those who now own God for theirs, he will then own for his. It is our duty to serve God with the disposition of children; and he will not have his children trained up in idleness; they must do him service from a principle of love. Even God's children stand in need of sparing mercy. All are righteous or wicked, such as serve God, or such as serve him not: all are going to heaven or to hell. We are often deceived in our opinions concerning both the one and the other; but at the bar of Christ, every man's character will be known. As to ourselves, we have need to think among which we shall have our lot; and, as to others, we must judge nothing before the time. But in the end all the world will confess that those alone were wise and happy, who served the Lord and trusted in Him.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Malachi 3:13 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

חָזְק֥וּcha.ze.Kuthey have been strongH2388

עָלַ֛י'a.Laion meH5921

דִּבְרֵיכֶ֖םdiv.rei.Khemwords yourH1697

אָמַ֣ר'a.Marhe saysH559

יְהוָ֑הYah.wehYahwehH3068

וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֕םva.'a.mar.Temand you sayH559

מַה\־mah-what?H4100

נִּדְבַּ֖רְנוּnid.Bar.nuhave we spoken togetherH1696

עָלֶֽיךָ\׃'a.Lei.khaon youH5921

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Malachi 3:13

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?
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 Holy One of Israel.
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? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.
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, shewing himself that he is God.
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 your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand? Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand? And his servants spake yet more against the Lord God, and against his servant Hezekiah. He wrote also letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand. …
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.
Job 34:7-8
What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water? Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men.
Jeremiah 8:12
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.
Malachi 2:14
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
Job 40:8
Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Isaiah 5:19
That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Your.
2:17; Ex 5:2; 2Ch 32:14-19; Job 34:7,8; Ps 10:11; Isa 5:19; 28:14,15
Isa 37:23; 2Th 2:4
What.
8; 1:6-8; 2:14,17; Job 40:8; Jer 8:12; Ro 9:20

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Malachi 3:12
And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 3:13
Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
Malachi 3:14
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?

Read all of Malachi 3

Malachi 3:13 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Vuestras palabras han prevalecido contra mí, dice Jehová. Y dijisteis: ¿Qué hemos hablado contra ti?
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Vos paroles ont été fortes contre moi, dit l’ Éternel; et vous dites: Qu’avons-nous dit contre toi?
German Elberfelder 1871	Eure Worte sind trotzig gegen mich gewesen, spricht Jehova. Und ihr sprechet: Was haben wir miteinander wider dich beredet?
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Invaluerunt super me verba vestra, dicit Dominus.