Malachi 2:12

12 May the LORD punish you who do that. It doesn't matter who you are. May the LORD who rules over all cut you off from the tents of Jacob's people. May he remove you even if you bring offerings to him.

Malachi 2:12 Meaning and Commentary

Malachi 2:12

The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this
That is guilty of such treachery, wickedness, and idolatry: or "to the man that doeth this" F25; all that belong to him, his children and substance: it denotes the utter destruction, not of a single man and his family only, but of the whole Jewish nation and its polity, civil and ecclesiastical, as follows: the master and the scholar out of the tabernacles of Jacob;
the Targum paraphrases it,

``the son, and son's son, out of the cities of Jacob;''
agreeable to which is Kimchi's note,
``it is as if it was said, there shall not be left in his house one alive; that there shall not be in his house one that answers him, that calls by name.''
In the Hebrew text it is, "him that is awake, and him that answers" {z}; which the Talmudists F1 explain, the former of the wise men or masters, and the latter of the disciples of the wise men; to which sense our version agrees: but by "him that waketh or watcheth", according to Cocceius, is meant the civil magistrate, who watches for the good of the commonwealth, and so may design the elders and rulers of the people; and by him that "answereth", the prophet, who returns answers when he is consulted in things belonging to the law of God, and such were the scribes and lawyers. And him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts;
the priests, that offered sacrifice for the people; so that hereby is threatened an entire destruction, both of the civil and ecclesiastical polity of the Jews, that there should be no prince, prophet, and priest among them; all should be removed out of the tents of Jacob, or cities of Israel; see ( Hosea 3:4 ) .
FOOTNOTES:

F25 (vyal) "viro", Drusius, Cocceius, Burkius, De Dieu; "filius et qui fecerit istud", Piscator.
F26 (hnew re) "vigilantem et respondentem", Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Grotius; "vigilantem et responsantem", Junius & Tremellius; "vigilem et respondentem", Burkius.
F1 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 82. 1.

Malachi 2:12 In-Context

10 People of Judah, all of us have one Father. One God created us. So why do we break the covenant the LORD made with our people long ago? We don't even keep our promises to one another.
11 You have broken your promises. A hateful thing has been done in Israel and Jerusalem. The LORD loves his temple. But you have polluted it. You men have married women who worship other gods.
12 May the LORD punish you who do that. It doesn't matter who you are. May the LORD who rules over all cut you off from the tents of Jacob's people. May he remove you even if you bring offerings to him.
13 Here's something else you do. You flood the LORD's altar with your tears. You sob and cry because he doesn't pay attention to your offerings anymore. He doesn't accept them from your hands with pleasure.
14 You ask, "Why?" It's because the LORD is holding you accountable. He watches how you treat the wife you married when you were young. You have broken your promise to her. You did it even though she's your partner. You promised to stay married to her. And the LORD was a witness to it.
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