“Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
Parallel translations
- WEB “Your words have been stout against me,” says Yahweh. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’
- KJV Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
- NKJV “Yourwords have been harsh against Me,” Says the Lord, “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
- NASB “Your words have been arrogant against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
- NLT “You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord. “But you say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God confronts the people for speaking harsh, arrogant words against Him, which they deny having spoken.
Overview
This begins the book's final dispute, exposing the people's defiant speech against God even as they feign innocence. Their words, detailed in the next verses, reveal hearts hardened by cynicism. The verse reminds us that God hears all our words and that grumbling against Him is a serious matter, calling us instead to humble trust.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Mal 2:17You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”
- Rom 9:20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
- Isa 37:23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
- 2 Th 2:4He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
- Mal 1:6–8“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’
- Mal 2:14Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
- Job 40:8Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
- Jer 8:12Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse, says the LORD.
- 2 Chr 32:14–19Who among all the gods of these nations that my fathers devoted to destruction has been able to deliver his people from my hand? How then can your God deliver you from my hand?
- Job 34:7–8What man is like Job, who drinks up derision like water?
- Exod 5:2But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”
- Mal 3:8Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
- Isa 28:14–15Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
- Ps 10:11He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
- Isa 5:19to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The messenger who prepares the way, the sun of righteousness rising with healing, and the Lord suddenly coming to his temple set the stage for the gospel that opens with John and Jesus.
How Malachi 3:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.