Malachi 3:5

KJV1611 – Modern English

And I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those who oppress the laborer in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who turn aside the stranger from his right, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְקָרַבְתִּ֣י אֲלֵיכֶם֮ לַמִּשְׁפָּט֒ וְהָיִ֣יתִי ׀ עֵ֣ד מְמַהֵ֗ר בַּֽמְכַשְּׁפִים֙ וּבַמְנָ֣אֲפִ֔ים וּבַנִּשְׁבָּעִ֖ים לַשָּׁ֑קֶר וּבְעֹשְׁקֵ֣י שְׂכַר־שָׂ֠כִיר אַלְמָנָ֨ה וְיָת֤וֹם וּמַטֵּי־גֵר֙ וְלֹ֣א יְרֵא֔וּנִי אָמַ֖ר יְהוָ֥ה צְבָאֽוֹת׃

Transliteration

We-qaravti ʾalekhem la-mishpat we-hayiti ʿed memalier ba-mekhashephim u-va-menaʾafim u-va-nishbaʿim la-shaqer u-ve-ʿosheqe sekhar-sakhir ʾalmanah we-yatom u-matte-ger we-loʾ yereʾuni ʾamar YHWH tsevaʾot.

Grammar Details

• *We-qaravti*: waw consecutive + Qal perfect, 1st person singular - and I will draw near
• *ʾalekhem*: preposition with 2nd masculine plural suffix - to you
• *la-mishpat*: preposition + definite article + noun, masculine singular - for judgment
• *we-hayiti*: waw consecutive + Qal perfect, 1st person singular - and I will be
• *ʿed*: noun, masculine singular - witness
• *memalier*: Piel participle, masculine singular - swift/quick/hastening
• *ba-mekhashephim*: preposition + definite article + Piel participle, masculine plural - against the sorcerers
• *u-va-menaʾafim*: waw conjunction + preposition + definite article + Piel participle, masculine plural - and against the adulterers
• *u-va-nishbaʿim*: waw conjunction + preposition + definite article + Niphal participle, masculine plural - and against those who swear
• *la-shaqer*: preposition + definite article + noun, masculine singular - falsely/to the falsehood
• *u-ve-ʿosheqe*: waw conjunction + preposition + Qal participle, masculine plural construct - and against those who oppress
• *sekhar-sakhir*: noun, masculine singular construct + noun, masculine singular - wages of hired worker
• *ʾalmanah*: noun, feminine singular - widow
• *we-yatom*: waw conjunction + noun, masculine singular - and orphan
• *u-matte-ger*: waw conjunction + Hiphil participle, masculine plural construct + noun, masculine singular - and those who turn aside/thrust away the foreigner
• *we-loʾ*: waw conjunction + negative particle - and not
• *yereʾuni*: Qal perfect, 3rd common plural with 1st person singular suffix - they fear me
• *ʾamar*: Qal perfect, 3rd masculine singular - says/said
• *YHWH*: divine name - Yahweh/LORD
• *tsevaʾot*: noun, feminine plural - hosts/armies

Word Meanings

• *qaravti*: draw near/approach/come close
• *mishpat*: judgment/justice/legal case
• *ʿed*: witness/testimony
• *memalier*: quick/swift/hastening/speedy
• *mekhashephim*: sorcerers/practitioners of magic/witches
• *menaʾafim*: adulterers/those committing adultery
• *nishbaʿim*: those who swear/those taking oaths
• *shaqer*: falsehood/deception/lie
• *ʿosheqe*: oppressors/exploiters/defrauders
• *sekhar-sakhir*: wages of hired laborer/payment of worker
• *matte-ger*: those who turn aside the foreigner/those who pervert the rights of the alien
• *yereʾuni*: fear me/reverence me/stand in awe of me

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  I will come near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, adulterers, and those who swear falsely; against those who defraud workers of their wages, oppress widows and orphans, and deprive foreigners of justice. They do not fear me, says the Lord of Hosts.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  And I will come near{H7126} to you to judgment;{H4941} and I will be a swift{H4116} witness{H5707} against the sorcerers,{H3784} and against the adulterers,{H5003} and against the false{H8267} swearers,{H7650} and against those that oppress{H6231} the hireling{H7916} in his wages,{H7939} the widow,{H490} and the fatherless,{H3490} and that turn aside{H5186} the sojourner{H1616} [from his right], and fear{H3372} not me, saith{H559} Jehovah{H3068} of hosts.{H6635}

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  And I will come near{H7126}{(H8804)} to you to judgment{H4941}; and I will be a swift{H4116}{(H8764)} witness{H5707} against the sorcerers{H3784}{(H8764)}, and against the adulterers{H5003}{(H8764)}, and against false{H8267} swearers{H7650}{(H8737)}, and against those that oppress{H6231}{(H8802)} the hireling{H7916} in his wages{H7939}, the widow{H490}, and the fatherless{H3490}, and that turn aside{H5186}{(H8688)} the stranger{H1616} from his right, and fear{H3372}{(H8804)} not me, saith{H559}{(H8804)} the LORD{H3068} of hosts{H6635}.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  I will come & punysh you, & I myself wil be a swift wytnes agaynst the witches, agaynst the aduouterers, agaynst false swearers: yee ad agaynst those, that wrogeously kepe backe the hyrelynges dewty: which vexe the wyddowes & the fatherlesse, & oppresse the straunger, and feare not me, sayeth the LORDE of hoostes.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  And I will come neere to you to iudgement, and I will be a swift witnesse against the southsayers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that wrongfully keepe backe the hirelings wages, and vexe the widowe, and the fatherlesse, and oppresse the stranger, and feare not me, sayth the Lord of hostes.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  And I wyl come neare to you in iudgement, and I wyll be a swyft witnesse against the soothsayers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that wrongfully keepe backe the hirelynges wages, and vexe the widowe and the fatherlesse, and oppresse the straunger, and feare not me, saith the Lorde of hoastes.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in [his] wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Hosts.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  And I have drawn near to you for judgment, And I have been a witness, Making haste against sorcerers, And against adulterers, And against swearers to a falsehood, And against oppressors of the hire of an hireling, Of a widow, and of a fatherless one, And those turning aside a sojourner, And who fear Me not, said Jehovah of Hosts.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner `from his right', and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner [from his right], and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  And I will come near to you for judging; I will quickly be a witness against the wonder-workers, against those who have been untrue in married life, against those who take false oaths; against those who keep back from the servant his payment, and who are hard on the widow and the child without a father, who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country, and have no fear of me, says the Lord of armies.

• World English Bible (2000)

  I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Armies.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  “I will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, who refuse to help the resident foreigner and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

Referenced Verses

• Lev 19:13 : 13 You shall not defraud your neighbor, nor rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
• Deut 24:17 : 17 You shall not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's clothing as a pledge:
• Deut 27:19 : 19 Cursed be he who perverts the judgment of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
• Mal 2:14 : 14 Yet you say, Why? Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and the wife of your covenant.
• Jer 29:23 : 23 Because they have done outrageous things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; indeed I know, and am a witness, says the LORD.
• Jas 5:4 : 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of those who have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.
• Jas 5:8-9 : 8 Be also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned: behold, the judge stands before the door.
• Jas 5:12 : 12 But above all things, my brethren, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no,' 'no'; lest you fall into condemnation.
• Jude 1:14-15 : 14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.'
• Rev 21:8 : 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
• Rev 22:15 : 15 For outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and sexually immoral, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.
• Ezek 22:6-9 : 6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one, were in you using their power to shed blood. 7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt: in your midst they have dealt oppressively with the stranger: in you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised My holy things, and have profaned My sabbaths. 9 In you are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in you they eat on the mountains: in the midst of you they commit lewdness. 10 In you they have uncovered their fathers' nakedness: in you they have humbled her who was set apart for impurity. 11 One has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife; another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter. 12 In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken usury and increase, and you have greedily gained from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me, says the Lord GOD.
• Ezek 34:20-22 : 20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you have pushed with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad; 22 Therefore I will save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
• Mic 1:2 : 2 Hear, all you people; listen, O earth, and all that is within it: and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
• Zech 5:3-4 : 3 Then he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on this side; and everyone who swears shall be cut off according to it on that side. 4 I will bring it forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with its timber and its stones.
• Mal 2:17 : 17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, How have we wearied him? When you say, Everyone that does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them; or, Where is the God of justice?
• Matt 23:13-35 : 13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, nor allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: therefore you shall receive greater condemnation. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you travel land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. 16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated! 17 Fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And, Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is guilty. 19 Fools and blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and by him that dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it. 23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith: these you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. 25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you make clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers, how can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
• Luke 23:40 : 40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?
• Rom 3:8 : 8 And why not say, (as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say,) 'Let us do evil that good may come'? Their condemnation is just.
• 1 Cor 6:9-9 : 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
• Gal 5:19-21 : 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousy, wrath, strife, seditious, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
• 1 Thess 4:6 : 6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
• Heb 10:30-31 : 30 For we know him who has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
• Heb 13:4 : 4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
• Neh 5:15 : 15 But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took bread and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God.
• Ps 36:1 : 1 The transgression of the wicked speaks within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
• Ps 50:3-7 : 3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very stormy around Him. 4 He shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. 5 Gather My saints together to Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. 6 And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God Himself is judge. Selah. 7 Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, even your God.
• Ps 81:8 : 8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify to you; O Israel, if you will listen to me;
• Ps 96:13 : 13 Before the LORD: for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
• Ps 98:9 : 9 Before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness he shall judge the world, and the people with fairness.
• Prov 8:13 : 13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate.
• Prov 16:6 : 6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil.
• Prov 22:22-23 : 22 Do not rob the poor because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted in the gate; 23 For the LORD will plead their cause and plunder the soul of those who plunder them.
• Prov 23:10-11 : 10 Do not remove the ancient landmark, and do not enter the fields of the fatherless: 11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with you.
• Jer 7:9-9 : 9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know; 10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
• Jer 22:13-17 : 13 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor’s service without wages, and gives him nothing for his work; 14 Who says, I will build myself a wide house and large rooms, and cuts him out windows; and it is paneled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 15 Shall you reign, because you enclose yourself in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? 16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? says the LORD. 17 But your eyes and your heart are set only on your covetousness, and on shedding innocent blood, and on oppression, and on violence, to do it.
• Lev 20:6 : 6 And the soul that turns after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go whoring after them, I will set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
• Lev 20:10 : 10 And the man that commits adultery with another man's wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
• Lev 20:27 : 27 A man or woman who has a familiar spirit, or who is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.
• Deut 5:11 : 11 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
• Deut 5:17-21 : 17 You shall not kill. 18 Neither shall you commit adultery. 19 Neither shall you steal. 20 Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor. 21 Neither shall you desire your neighbor's wife, nor shall you covet your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.
• Deut 24:14-15 : 14 You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is of your brethren or of the strangers that are in your land within your gates: 15 You shall give him his wages on the same day, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it: lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you.
• Gen 20:11 : 11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me for my wife's sake.
• Gen 42:18 : 18 And Joseph said to them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
• Exod 1:17 : 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.
• Exod 18:21 : 21 Moreover, you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place them over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
• Exod 22:21-24 : 21 You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry; 24 and my wrath shall grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless.