Malachi 3 · Verse 15

Malachi 3:15

And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
Malachi 3:15, King James Version

Malachi 3:15 in other translations

BSBSo now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”
WEBNow we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’
ASVand now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are built up; yea, they tempt God, and escape.
YLTAnd now, we are declaring the proud happy, Yea, built up have been those doing wickedness, Yea they have tempted God, and escape.'
DARBYAnd now we hold the proud for happy; yea, they that work wickedness are built up; yea, they tempt God, and they escape.
BBEAnd now to us the men of pride seem happy; yes, the evil-doers are doing well; they put God to the test and are safe.
WebsterAnd now we call the proud happy; yes, they that work wickedness are set up; even they that tempt God are delivered.

What does Malachi 3:15 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…

Read the full comment on Malachi 3:13-18 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 15 And now we call the proud happy - Proud and insolent men are the only happy people, for they domineer everywhere, and none dares to resist them. They that work wickedness are set up - The humble and holy are depressed and miserable; the proud and wicked are in places of trust and profit. Too often it is so. They that tempt God are even delivered - Even those who despise God, and insult his justice and providence, are preserved in and from dangers; while the righteous fall by them.

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…

Read the full comment on Malachi 3:13-18 →

Malachi 3:15 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.

וְעַתָּ֕הve.'a.Tahand thereforeH6258
אֲנַ֖חְנוּ'a.Nach.nuweH587
מְאַשְּׁרִ֣יםme.'a.she.Rim[are] calling blessedH833
זֵדִ֑יםze.Dimarrogant [people]H2086
גַּם\־gam-bothH1571
נִבְנוּ֙niv.Nuthey have been built upH1129
עֹשֵׂ֣י'o.Sei[those who] doH6213
רִשְׁעָ֔הrish.'Ah<of> wickednessH7564
גַּ֧םgamas well asH1571
בָּחֲנ֛וּba.cha.Nuthey have testedH974
אֱלֹהִ֖ים'E.lo.HimGodH430
וַיִּמָּלֵֽטוּ\׃vai.yi.ma.Le.tuand they have escapedH4422

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

Cross references for Malachi 3:15

  • Jeremiah 12:1-2

    Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

  • Job 21:7-15

    Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. …

  • Malachi 4:1

    For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

  • 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?

  • Job 22:23

    If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

  • Matthew 4:6-7

    And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

  • Psalms 78:41

    Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

  • Job 21:30

    That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

  • Ecclesiastes 9:1-2

    For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

  • Psalms 95:9

    When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

  • Acts 5:9

    Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

  • Job 12:6

    The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
we call.
4:1; Es 5:10; Ps 10:3; 49:18; 73:12; Da 4:30,37; 5:20-28; Ac 12:21
1Pe 5:5
yea.
2:17; Job 12:6; 21:7-15,30; Pr 12:12; Ec 9:1,2; Jer 12:1,2
Hab 1:13-17
set. Heb. built.
Job 22:23
they that tempt.
Nu 14:22,23; Da 6:16; Ps 78:18,41,56; 95:9; 106:14; Mt 4:6,7; Ac 5:9
1Co 10:9; Heb 3:9

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

Context

  • 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?

  • Malachi 3:15

    And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

  • Malachi 3:16

    Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

Read all of Malachi 3

Malachi 3:15 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Decimos pues ahora, que bienaventurados los soberbios, y también que los que hacen impiedad son los prosperados: bien que tentaron á Dios, escaparon.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Et maintenant, nous tenons pour heureux les orgueilleux; ceux même qui pratiquent la méchanceté sont établis; même ils tentent Dieu et sont délivrés.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und so preisen wir nun die Übermütigen glücklich: nicht nur sind die Täter der Gesetzlosigkeit aufgebaut worden, sondern sie haben auch Gott versucht und sind entronnen. -
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Ergo nunc beatos dicimus arrogantes: siquidem ædificati sunt facientes impietatem, et tentaverunt Deum, et salvi facti sunt.