Malachi 3:9

9 Ye are cursed with a me’erah (curse); for ye have robbed Me, even this whole Goy (nation).

Malachi 3:9 Meaning and Commentary

Malachi 3:9

Ye [are] cursed with a curse
Or "with penury", as the Vulgate Latin version; which, though not a proper rendering of the word, is the meaning of the curse they were cursed with; rain was withheld from them for their sins, and the earth did not bring forth its usual increase; wherefore there was want of food in all their land; their blessings were cursed, as in ( Malachi 2:2 ) for the following reason,

for ye have robbed me;
because of this their iniquity, in not bringing their offerings to the Lord, and the tithes to the priests and Levites, their land was stricken with barrenness, and God gave them cleanness of teeth, and want of bread in all places: or, "but ye have robbed me" ^F4; notwithstanding they were thus chastised of the Lord, yet were not reformed, but went on in withholding from God and the priests, what belonged to them:

[even] this whole nation;
the sin was become general, and therefore a general judgment was inflicted on them: Grotius thinks, that the people seeing the priests withhold the tithes from the Levites, they refused to pay them to them, and so the sin became universal. Kimchi observes, that in other sins charged upon the nation, the people were not all alike guilty, but in this which respected the tithes and offerings they were.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Myebq Mta ytaw) "et tamen diripitis me", De Dieu.

Malachi 3:9 In-Context

7 Even from the yamei avoteichem ye are gone away from Mine chukkim, and have not been shomer over them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith Hashem Tzva’os. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

8 Will a man rob G-d? Yet ye have robbed Me [Ex 20:15]. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In ma’aser (tithes) and terumah (offerings, contributions).

9 Ye are cursed with a me’erah (curse); for ye have robbed Me, even this whole Goy (nation).

10 Bring ye kol hama’aser (all the tithes) into the Beis HaOtzar (House of the Treasury), that there may be teref (food) in Mine Beis [Hamikdash], and prove Me now herewith, saith Hashem Tzva’os, if I will not open you the windows of Shomayim, and pour you out a brocha, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the p’ri ha’adamah; neither shall your gefen cast her fruit before the time in the sadeh, saith Hashem Tzva’os.