Malachi 2:5

Bible in Basic English (1941)

My agreement with him was on my side life and peace, and I gave them to him; on his side fear, and he had fear of me and gave honour to my name.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

בְּרִיתִ֣י ׀ הָיְתָ֣ה אִתּ֗וֹ הַֽחַיִּים֙ וְהַ֨שָּׁל֔וֹם וָאֶתְּנֵֽם־ל֥וֹ מוֹרָ֖א וַיִּֽירָאֵ֑נִי וּמִפְּנֵ֥י שְׁמִ֖י נִחַ֥ת הֽוּא׃

Transliteration

Bərîtî hāytâ with-him the-ḥayyîm and-the-šālôm and-ʾettənēm-to-him môrāʾ and-wayyîrāʾēnî and-from-pənê šəmî niḥat he

Grammar Details

• *Bərîtî*: feminine singular noun with 1st person singular suffix - my covenant
• *hāytâ*: qal perfect 3rd person feminine singular - she was/became
• *ḥayyîm*: masculine plural noun - lives/life
• *šālôm*: masculine singular noun - peace/completeness
• *ʾettənēm*: qal imperfect 1st person singular with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - I gave them
• *môrāʾ*: masculine singular noun - fear/reverence
• *wayyîrāʾēnî*: qal imperfect with waw consecutive 3rd person masculine singular with 1st person singular suffix - and he feared me
• *pənê*: masculine plural construct - face of
• *šəmî*: masculine singular noun with 1st person singular suffix - my name
• *niḥat*: niphal perfect 3rd person masculine singular - he was dismayed/broken/frightened

Word Meanings

• *bərîtî*: my covenant/agreement/pact
• *ḥayyîm*: life/lives/living
• *šālôm*: peace/completeness/welfare/health
• *môrāʾ*: fear/terror/reverence
• *wayyîrāʾēnî*: and he feared/revered/was afraid of me
• *niḥat*: he was dismayed/broken/frightened/shattered

Referenced Verses

• Num 25:12-13 : 12 So say to them that I will make with him an agreement of peace: 13 And by this agreement, he and his sons after him have the right to be priests for ever; because, by his care for the honour of his God, he took away the sin of the children of Israel.
• Deut 33:8-9 : 8 And of Levi he said, Give your Thummim to Levi and let the Urim be with your loved one, whom you put to the test at Massah, with whom you were angry at the waters of Meribah; 9 Who said of his father, Who is he? and of his mother, I have not seen her; he kept himself separate from his brothers and had no knowledge of his children: for they have given ear to your word and kept your agreement. 10 They will be the teachers of your decisions to Jacob and of your law to Israel: the burning of perfumes before you will be their right, and the ordering of burned offerings on your altar. 11 Let your blessing, O Lord, be on his substance, may the work of his hands be pleasing to you: may those who take up arms against him and all who have hate for him, be wounded through the heart, never to be lifted up again.
• Ps 106:30-31 : 30 Then Phinehas got up, and made prayer for them; and the disease went no farther. 31 And all the generations coming after him kept the memory of his righteousness for ever.
• Ezek 34:25 : 25 And I will make with them an agreement of peace, and will put an end to evil beasts through all the land: and they will be living safely in the waste land, sleeping in the woods.
• Ezek 37:26 : 26 And I will make an agreement of peace with them: it will be an eternal agreement with them: and I will have mercy on them and make their numbers great, and will put my holy place among them for ever.
• Exod 32:26-29 : 26 Then Moses took his place at the way into the tents, and said, Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi came together to him. 27 And he said to them, This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: Let every man take his sword at his side, and go from one end of the tents to the other, putting to death his brother and his friend and his neighbour. 28 And the sons of Levi did as Moses said; and about three thousand of the people were put to death that day. 29 And Moses said, You have made yourselves priests to the Lord this day; for every one of you has made the offering of his son and his brother; the blessing of the Lord is on you this day.
• Num 3:45 : 45 Take the Levites in place of all the first sons of the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites in place of their cattle; the Levites are to be mine; I am the Lord.
• Num 8:15 : 15 After that, the Levites will go in to do whatever has to be done in the Tent of meeting; you are to make them clean and give them as a wave offering.
• Num 16:9-9 : 9 Does it seem only a small thing to you that the God of Israel has made you separate from the rest of Israel, letting you come near himself to do the work of the House of the Lord, and to take your place before the people to do what has to be done for them; 10 Letting you, and all your brothers the sons of Levi, come near to him? and would you now be priests?
• Num 18:8-9 : 8 And the Lord said to Aaron, See, I have given into your care my lifted offerings; even all the holy things of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons as your right for ever, because you have been marked with the holy oil. 9 This is to be yours of the most holy things, out of the fire offerings; every offering of theirs, every meal offering and sin-offering, and every offering which they make on account of error, is to be most holy for you and your sons. 10 As most holy things they are to be your food: let every male have them for food; it is to be holy to you. 11 And this is yours: the lifted offering which they give and all the wave offerings of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as your right for ever: everyone in your house who is clean may have them for food. 12 All the best of the oil and the wine and the grain, the first-fruits of them which they give to the Lord, to you have I given them. 13 The earliest produce from their land which they take to the Lord is to be yours; everyone in your house who is clean may have it for his food. 14 Everything given by oath to the Lord in Israel is to be yours. 15 The first birth of every living thing which is offered to the Lord, of man or beast, is to be yours; but for the first sons of man payment is to be made, and for the first young of unclean beasts. 16 Payment is to be made for these when they are a month old, at the value fixed by you, a price of five shekels by the scale of the holy place, that is, twenty gerahs to the shekel. 17 But no such payment may be made for the first birth of an ox or a sheep or a goat; these are holy: their blood is to be dropped on the altar, and their fat burned for an offering made by fire, a sweet smell to the Lord. 18 Their flesh is to be yours; like the breast of the wave offering and the right leg, it is to be yours. 19 All the lifted offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel give to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as a right for ever. This is an agreement made with salt before the Lord, to you and to your seed for ever. 20 And the Lord said to Aaron, You will have no heritage in their land, or any part among them; I am your part and your heritage among the children of Israel. 21 And to the children of Levi I have given as their heritage all the tenths offered in Israel, as payment for the work they do, the work of the Tent of meeting. 22 In future the children of Israel are not to come near the Tent of meeting, so that death may not come to them because of sin. 23 But the Levites are to do the work of the Tent of meeting, and be responsible for errors in connection with it: this is a law for ever through all your generations; and among the children of Israel they will have no heritage. 24 For the tenths which the children of Israel give as a lifted offering to the Lord I have given to the Levites as their heritage. and so I have said to them, Among the children of Israel they will have no heritage.