Malachi 3:5

5 I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against the sorcerers, the adulterers, those swearing falsely, against those who cheat the day laborers out of their wages as well as oppress the widow and the orphan, and against those who brush aside the foreigner and do not revere me, says the LORD of heavenly forces.

Malachi 3:5 Meaning and Commentary

Malachi 3:5

And I will come near to you to judgment
And so will manifestly appear to be the God of judgment they asked after, ( Malachi 2:17 ) this is not to be understood of Christ's coming to judgment at the last day, but of his coming to judge and punish the wicked Jews at the time of Jerusalem's destruction; for the same is here meant, who is spoken of in the third person before, and who will not be afar off; there will be no need to inquire after him, when he will come he will be near enough, and too near for them: and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers;
not only a judge, but a witness; so that there will be no delay of judgment, or protracting or evading it, for want of witnesses of facts alleged; for the Judge himself, who is Christ, will be witness of them, he being the omniscient God, before whom all things are manifest. The Targum is,

``my Word shall be among you for a swift witness.''

Mention is made of "sorcerers", because there were many that used the magic art, enchantments, and sorceries, in the age of Christ and his apostles, and before the destruction of Jerusalem, even many of their doctors and members of the sanhedrim; (See Gill on Isaiah 8:19): and against the adulterers;
with whom that age also abounded; hence our Lord calls it an adulterous generation, ( Matthew 12:39 ) ( John 8:3-9 ) ( Romans 2:22 ) : and against false swearers;
who were guilty of perjury, and of vain oaths; who swore by the creatures, and not by the Lord, and to things not true; see ( Matthew 5:33-37 ) : and against those that oppress the hireling in [his] wages, the
widow, and the fatherless;
defrauding of servants of their wages, devouring widows' houses, and distressing the fatherless, were sins the Jews were addicted to in those times, as appears from ( James 1:27 ) ( 5:4 ) who wrote to the twelve tribes; and from what our Lord charges them with, ( Matthew 23:14 ) : and that turn aside the stranger [from his right];
and so Kimchi supplies it,

``that turn aside the judgment of the stranger;''

that do not do him justice in civil things; yea, persecuted those that became proselytes to the Christian religion: and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts;
which was the root and cause of all their sins; irreverence of Christ, disbelief of him, and contempt of his Gospel.

Malachi 3:5 In-Context

3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. They will belong to the LORD, presenting a righteous offering.

4 The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in ancient days and in former years.

5 I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against the sorcerers, the adulterers, those swearing falsely, against those who cheat the day laborers out of their wages as well as oppress the widow and the orphan, and against those who brush aside the foreigner and do not revere me, says the LORD of heavenly forces.

6 I am the LORD, and I do not change; and you, children of Jacob, have not perished.

7 Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have deviated from my laws and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you, says the LORD of heavenly forces. But you say, "How should we return?"