Malachi 1:5

5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the LORD—even beyond the borders of Israel!’

Malachi 1:5 in Other Translations

KJV
5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.
ESV
5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!"
NLT
5 When you see the destruction for yourselves, you will say, ‘Truly, the LORD ’s greatness reaches far beyond Israel’s borders!’”
MSG
5 "Yes, take a good look. Then you'll see how faithfully I've loved you and you'll want even more, saying, 'May God be even greater, beyond the borders of Israel!'
CSB
5 Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say: The Lord is great, [even] beyond the borders of Israel.

Malachi 1:5 Meaning and Commentary

Malachi 1:5

And your eyes shall see
The destruction of the Edomites, and their fruitless attempts to rebuild their desolate places; and the difference between them and the Israelites, who were returned to their own land, and inherited it, when they could not; and the love of God to the one, and his hatred of the other:

and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of
Israel;
Aben Ezra interprets it, ye that dwelt in the border of Israel shall say, the Lord shall be magnified, or let him be magnified; let greatness and glory be ascribed to him for what he has done: or, as Kimchi, give him praise and greatness because you are dwelling in your border, and their border is desolate; and your border is called the border of Israel, but theirs the border of wickedness; and so the Targum,

``let the glory of the Lord be multiplied, because he hath enlarged the border of Israel;''

and, according to Jarchi, the sense is, he shall show his greatness from our border, to make it known that we are his people: all show and own that God had loved them more than others, and therefore they ought to have honoured and obeyed him, in which they were deficient, and so ungrateful.

Malachi 1:5 In-Context

3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.” But this is what the LORD Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD.
5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the LORD—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
6 “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Psalms 35:27; Psalms 48:1; Micah 5:4
  • 2. Isaiah 45:22; Isaiah 52:10; S Amos 1:11-12
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