My *Messenger

An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Malachi

www.easyenglish.bible

Gordon Churchyard

This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

Words that are in boxes are from the Bible.

A word list is at the end. It explains words with a *star by them.

The words in brackets ( ) are not in the *Hebrew Bible.

Chapter 1

Notes

Verse 1 Malachi wrote his book in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew word for ‘message’ here means ‘a weight that someone must carry’. Malachi felt that he needed to declare God’s message. This was Malachi’s duty. ‘*LORD’ is a special name for God. God used this name when he made a *covenant with his people. A *covenant is a special agreement. The *Old Testament is about this *covenant. The word ‘testament’ means ‘evidence’. Malachi is the last book in the *Old Testament. In God’s *covenant with his people:

·     God agrees to care for his people.

·     God’s people agree to love God and to obey him.

The word ‘Israel’ here means all the *Jewish people. Malachi is a name that means ‘my messenger’. A messenger is someone that brings a message. Malachi probably lived about 450 B.C. B.C. means ‘years Before Christ came to the earth’. The word for ‘servant’ here is actually ‘by the hand of’ in *Hebrew. Malachi considered himself to be like a servant. God was Malachi’s master. Although Malachi declared this message, his words came from God.

Notes

Verse 2 This starts the first of 6 arguments, or discussions, between God and his people Israel. They are in:

·     Malachi 1:2-5. An argument about the love of God.

·     Malachi 1:6-2:9. An argument about the honour of God.

·     Malachi 2:10-16. An argument about people who do not do what they promise, especially in marriage.

·     Malachi 2:17-3:5. An argument about whether God is a fair judge.

·     Malachi 3:6-12. An argument about people who are sorry because they have done wrong things.

·     Malachi 3:13-4:3. An argument about people who say things against God.

Here, the people did not agree that God loved them. But God says that he loved Jacob. In other words, he chose to love Jacob. Jacob’s children started the 12 *tribes (or large families) that became Israel. So ‘I chose to love Jacob’ means ‘I chose to love Israel’. The *LORD had changed Jacob’s name to Israel (Genesis 32:28).

Verse 3 But God chose not to love Esau. Actually, the *Hebrew Bible says, ‘I hated Esau’. But many Bible students agree with our translation. It means that God chose Jacob for his plan, but he did not choose Esau. God’s plan was to send Jesus to save us from the punishment for our evil deeds. God chose Jacob because later Jesus would be born into the family of Jacob (that is, Israel). That is a plan that can help everyone, ‘even outside the country called Israel’, verse 5.

This verse helps to give us a date for Malachi. It tells us that the *LORD destroyed Edom. That means that the *LORD allowed an enemy to defeat Edom. Edom is the name of the country where the family of Esau lived. An enemy called the Nabataeans probably destroyed Edom about 500 *B.C. The people from Edom moved to the desert south of Jerusalem. This was before Malachi wrote his book.

Verse 4 ‘The *LORD of Everything’ is a special name for God. Another translation is ‘The *LORD of *Angel Armies’. *Angels are God’s servants in heaven, where he lives. We do not often see them, but they are always working for God, even on earth.

Verse 5 Some *Jews thought that God could only work in their own land. But when they will see him work in Edom, they will say, ‘The *LORD is great, even outside the country called Israel!’

Chapter 2

Notes

A new section starts here. It is about the honour of God.

1:6 The words in brackets … ( ….. ) … are not in the *Hebrew Bible. Usually they are there to help us to understand things better. But ‘his’ is in the old *Syrian Bible and ‘is afraid of’ is in the old *Greek Bible. These priests did not give honour to God. And they did not respect him. ‘Disrespect’ means the opposite of respect. The name of God in the Bible usually means God himself.

1:7 God would not accept any person or thing that was *unholy. The animals were *unholy to offer to God. This was because there was something wrong with them, verse 8. But the priests were *unholy because they did not give honour to God. Neither did they serve him as their master, verse 6. An *altar is a special table. Priests burned animals on it to please God. There were several such tables in the *temple in Jerusalem. These tables were all ‘the *LORD’s table’. It is not the same as ‘the *Lord’s table’ (for the bread and wine) in a church.

1:8 Leviticus 22:17-25 tells us that God wanted them to offer to him perfect animals. Animals that were not perfect were called unclean (that is, *unholy) animals. God told the people to kill these animals in order to teach the people about Jesus. The animals needed to be perfect. And Jesus was perfect (1 Peter 1:19). The animals had to die. And Jesus had to die so that God will forgive our evil deeds (Hebrews 9:13-15).

Animals that were blind were called unclean. (That is, *unholy.) So were animals that could not walk. Or, animals that had diseases. Therefore, God would not accept them. Even their ruler would not accept such animals.

1:9 God would not accept the unclean things that the priests offered. Therefore, they should pray for him to be *gracious. ‘Gracious’ means ‘kinder than you need to be’. Many Bible students think that Malachi was using irony here. Irony is when you say the opposite of what you really mean. It is something that poets do in order to emphasise their message. Really, Malachi thought that the priest should offer good gifts to God. Malachi did not want them to continue to offer bad gifts while they prayed such prayers.

1:10 The doors were probably at the entrance to part of the *temple. The *temple was God’s house in Jerusalem. There was a yard (called a *court) round the building itself. The *altars in verse 7 were in this *court. If the doors were shut, nobody could enter to light fires. The priest lit the fire. Then, the person that brought the animal killed it. The fires burned the animals on the *altars. But it was *useless to burn animals that were not perfect. (‘Useless’ means ‘with no use’.) God would not accept animals that were not perfect. Leviticus 1:5, and other verses, tell us this.

1:11 Notice that the word ‘but’ at the start links this verse with verse 10. ‘From sunrise to sunset’ is used in Psalm 50:1 and Psalm 113:3 and in Isaiah 45:6 and Isaiah 59:19. This phrase means the whole world (see Malachi 1:5). *Incense is a mixture of sticky substances from various trees. When people burn *incense, it gives a pleasant smell. Chapter 16 of the Book of Numbers teaches us that only the Chief Priest could offer *incense to God. We do not know what the ‘pure gifts’ are. They may be animals. But no other place in the *Old Testament says that God will accept them outside Israel. However, see Acts 10:35. But God does not want us to continue to give animals to him. He wants us to obey him and to give our lives to him (Psalm 51:16-17).

1:12 Again, the word ‘but’ at the start links this verse with the previous verse.

1:13 The priests thought that all their religion was a nuisance to them. They hated it, or ‘blew down their noses’ at it. The English way to say this is ‘turned up their noses’ at it. The priests did this when they offered animals that were not perfect. The animal may have had an injury. Maybe a wild animal hurt or killed it. Exodus 22:31 says that the people should not even eat such an animal. To offer it to God insulted God. Or maybe the animals could not walk; or they had diseases. Leviticus 22:20-25 says that the people must not offer these animals to God.

1:14 Sometimes people promised God something, such as a good animal, if he answered their prayers. But when God did answer, they gave him something not so good! This verse says that such a person was cheating. If God *curses someone, something bad, perhaps death, will happen to that person.

2:1 The priests came from the *tribe of Levi. They lived in 48 towns in Judah (the south part of the *Jews’ country) and Israel (the north part). Numbers 35:3 tells us that they kept animals. They were probably the people who cheated in the previous verse.

2:2 A *curse had an important meaning for people from the *Jewish religion. God punished people by a *curse if they did not obey his laws. Deuteronomy 27:14 to Deuteronomy 28:68 has lists of both *curses and *blessings. *Blessings are the opposite of *curses. *Curses cause death, but *blessings cause life. The *Levites read out these lists every year. They did it on the day when the people promised to obey God’s *covenant.

2:3. The *Hebrew Bible uses the word ‘angry’. The *Greek Bible, an ancient translation from 200 *B.C., has ‘cut off’ or ‘make separate’. It probably means that God would not let them be part of the *covenant. *B.C. means ‘years Before Christ came to the earth’. ‘Dung’ is the dirt that animals make. It has a bad smell. Priests cleared it up from the *temple and burned it. (See Exodus 29:14.) God says that he will clear his people up. That is, God would take them away from their homes and punish them.

2:4 In verses 4-6, God speaks about Levi as if Levi is one man. In fact, God means the family of Levi, especially the men who were good priests. And God is reminding the evil priests at the time of Malachi about their family history.

Levi himself was really a cruel man (Genesis 34:35). Levi’s father was Jacob. Before Jacob died, he blessed his 12 sons. But Jacob did not bless Levi. Instead of a *blessing, Levi received a *curse on behalf of his family (Genesis 49:5-7). But later, Moses belonged to the family of Levi. And Moses pleased God greatly. So, God appointed priests from Levi’s family. And Moses blessed Levi’s family (Deuteronomy 33:8-11).

2:5 Deuteronomy, Proverbs and Psalms tell us that life and satisfaction happen to people that obey God. Some verses are: Deuteronomy 4:40; 6:2, 3; 30:15-20; Proverbs 3:1-2; 4:10; 4:20-22; Psalms 1:3; 16:11; 91:16.

2:6 ‘Sin’ means ‘not to obey God’s laws’. A priest should know God’s laws. And he should obey them. Then other people will see his behaviour. And then they will learn how to serve God. Today, people should still see that Christians obey God’s laws (1 Peter 2:9).

2:7 The word ‘messenger’ tells us that the priest brings a message from the *LORD himself. The example in Zechariah 3:7 says that the Chief Priest could enter where God was. Ephesians 2:6 may say that this is also true of all Christians. Nehemiah 8:7-11 describes how the *Levites taught people the law of God.

2:8 But the priests did not obey God’s laws. Moreover, what they taught caused other people to *sin also. So these priests destroyed their *covenant with God. God did not destroy his *covenant with his people. He punished the people that did not obey him. Read Matthew 18:5-6.

2:9 So the ordinary people realised what the priests were doing. Therefore they hated the priests. The section ends by repeating what the priests did. They tried to make themselves popular by changing God’s laws. This did not bring honour to God, which is the main subject in this passage.

Notes

A new section starts here. It is about people that do not *keep their promises to each other, especially in marriage.

Verse 10 Malachi teaches his people:

·     We all have one father.

·     One God created us.

The one father may mean Abraham; ‘Abraham is your father’, (Isaiah 51:2). Some Bible students think that Malachi means God here. God as ‘our father’ is a *New Testament idea. For example, ‘our father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:9). In the *Old Testament, God was father to the king and to the whole nation (Isaiah 64:8). ‘Keep our promise’ is an English way to say ‘do what we promised to do’.

Verse 11 There is a note on ‘*unholy’ at 1:7. Here, the *Hebrew word reminds us of images of false gods and false religions. Bible students are not sure what ‘married the daughter of a foreign god’ means. Here are two possibilities:

·     They brought a false god from another country into the *temple in Jerusalem. This would make the *temple *unholy.

·     Some of the men married foreign women. These foreigners served false gods. But perhaps this would not make the *temple *unholy.

So, the first of these ideas is probably the correct one. In the past, *Jews had married people who were not *Jews. People that were not *Jews joined the *Jews when they left Egypt (Exodus 12:38). Also, Ruth married Boaz (Ruth 4:13). But the Bible makes clear that these foreign people obeyed the God of Israel (Exodus 12:48; Ruth 1:16). Foreign gods had different standards from the God of Israel (1 Kings 11:1-8; Nehemiah 13:23-31). Some Bible students think that ‘the *temple that the *LORD loves’ means his people. This is true in the *New Testament, as Paul tells us (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Verse 12 ‘Cut off’ means that the person would not belong to Israel. Such a person would become a foreigner. And the people in Israel would avoid that person. ‘To belong to the family of Jacob’ is ‘in the tents of Jacob’ in the *Hebrew Bible. Bible students are not sure how to translate ‘whoever they are’. Two ideas are:

·     anyone, whether he is a master or a pupil;

·     anyone who answers whoever wakes him up.

Jacob is another name for Israel. This meant all the *Jewish people when Malachi wrote his book.

Verse 13 Only the priests could come near the *altar. So either this means the priests, or perhaps the people that they served.

Verse 14 The *Jews believed that God was a witness to a marriage (Genesis 31:50; Proverbs 2:17). Partners that were loyal to each other and to God gave a good home for their children. The word ‘partner’ usually means ‘very good friend’ in the Hebrew language. ‘Companion’ would be a very good translation.

Verse 15 All Bible students agree that the first part is very difficult to translate. Our translation is one possibility among many. Here are some other translations:

·     Did not the *LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit, you are his. (New Living Bible)

·     Did not the one God make her, both flesh and spirit? (Revised English Bible)

·     Did he not create a single being that has flesh and the breath of life? (Jerusalem Bible)

There are many other translations. ‘Flesh’ is another word for ‘body’. Really, it means ‘meat’. One part of the verse is very clear: ‘*keep the promises that you made to your first wife.’

Verse 16 This verse may mean that people had divorced their first wives in order to remarry. Malachi says that this is cruel to the first wives. Actually, ‘to be cruel’ is ‘to cover your clothes with (blood from when you) fight’ in the *Hebrew Bible. Deuteronomy 24:1 says that the *LORD allows divorce. But this verse says that he does not like it. There is more teaching about divorce in Genesis 2:18-25 and Matthew 5:31-32 and 19:4-9.

Chapter 3

Notes

This is a section about whether God is a fair judge.

2:17 Isaiah 43:24 tells us that *sin makes God tired. Sin is ‘not to obey God’s rules’. God becomes tired when people upset him by their evil deeds. He never becomes tired when he hears people’s prayers. What are the *sins here? There are two:

·     When people say that there is no difference between right and wrong.

·     When people say that God is not a fair judge.

Really, they are saying that there is no God! Zechariah 8:3 made promises about 50 years before. But nothing seems to have happened. But Malachi 3:1 says that something will happen! Later, Malachi says that there is a real difference between right and wrong (Malachi 3:16-18).

3:1 God says, ‘Look at me! I will send malachi.’ ‘Malachi’ is a *Hebrew word that means ‘my messenger’, or ‘a person who brings my message’. It probably means anybody who helps to ‘prepare the way of the *LORD’ (Isaiah 40:3). Mark used these verses to describe John the *Baptist (Mark 1:2-4).

When the preparations are complete, the *Lord will suddenly come to his *temple. ‘Suddenly’ tells us that it may not be a pleasant experience. Verses 2-5 agree with this idea. See what Jesus did in the *temple (John 2:12-17). Jesus cleared out the *temple because the people’s behaviour was *unholy. So perhaps ‘the person that you desire’ is irony. ‘Irony’ is a special way to use words. Someone uses irony to say the opposite of what they really mean.

The *Hebrew word ‘malachi’ can also mean ‘my *angel’. So some Bible students think that ‘malachi of the *covenant’ is the *angel in Exodus 3:2 and Isaiah 63:9. This *angel helped to make the *covenant. But other Bible students think that it is the *Lord Jesus himself. When Jesus came, Ezekiel 43:1-5; Haggai 2:7 and Zechariah 2:10 all became true.

3:2 When the *Lord comes to his *temple, four things will happen:

·     Nobody will be able to stay, or remain.

·     Nobody will be able to stand. Everybody will fall down.

·     He will burn away the dirt in everybody that makes them *unholy.

·     He will be like soap and water and he will wash them clean.

But when people cannot stay (or stand), the *Lord will burn away the dirt. He will wash them clean again. Then they can stay in front of him.

3:3 The fire that burns the dirt away (verse 2) describes a *refiner. A *refiner is a man who makes metals pure. In Bible times, he used fire. Today, he uses fire, chemicals and electricity. The dirt that a *refiner burned away included metals like tin and lead. But pure silver and gold remained. The *refiner did this because metals like silver are not pure in the earth. Fire will not burn silver and gold away. The *Levites were the *tribe (or large family) that worked in the *temple. Some of them were priests. Other Levites helped the priests, or taught people about the Bible. They lived in 48 towns all round Judah (the south part of the *Jews’ country) and Israel (the north part). ‘Very good’ at the end of the verse is ‘right’ or ‘righteousness’. Righteousness is something that is very, very good. Really, only God has it, but he shares it with his people.

3:4 First the *LORD will make his priests clean. Then the people will also offer to God gifts that please him.

3:5 God will be both witness and judge. He is the only person able to do both. Everything in the list spoils society. Read Something to do number 6. God will do everything in this verse. Then, people will know that there is a fair God (Malachi 2:17). An *adulterer is a man that has sex with another man’s wife. Also, it is a woman that has sex with another woman’s husband.

Notes

This is a section about people who are sorry because of their wrong actions.

Verse 6 The word ‘because’ may link this verse with verse 5. The ‘family of Jacob’ means all the *Jews. Some Bible students translate this verse: ‘But I, the *LORD, never change; and you are still the sons of Jacob.’ Here, ‘sons of Jacob’ means that they were like Jacob. He cheated his brother Esau (Genesis chapter 27). This other translation includes the idea that the *Jews were cheating God.

Verse 7 Here are words from Zechariah 1:3:

‘Return to me’, says the *LORD of Everything. ‘Then I will return to you’, says the *LORD of Everything.

But the *Jews did not think that they had done anything wrong. So they asked, ‘How shall we return?’ Their question may mean ‘We will not return!’

Verse 8 This verse links with the name ‘Jacob’ in verse 6. The word ‘Jacob’ means ‘cheat’ in the Hebrew language. The *Jews cheated God because they were robbing him. Their question ‘How do we rob you?’ may mean, ‘We are not robbing you!’ But they were robbing God when they did not give him their *tithes. A tithe is a tenth part of something. They should have given to God a tenth part of their crops every year.

The rules were:

·     The *Jews gave a tenth to the *LORD (Leviticus 27:30).

·     The *LORD let the *Levites use this for themselves (Numbers 18:24).

·     The *Levites gave a *tithe to the priests (Numbers 18:28).

Verse 9 One of the proverbs says: ‘Someone that shares his possessions becomes rich. But he that does not share becomes poor.’ (See Proverbs 11:24.) This is the *curse on the whole nation. The note on Malachi 2:2 explains ‘*curse’.

Verse 10 A storehouse is a building where people store things. When they bring the *tithe to the *temple, there will be food for the priests and the *Levites. Then God will open the ‘windows of heaven’. This is only a picture, because there are no windows in the sky. But God says that it will be like this. It will be as if God is pouring *blessings on his people from above! The note on Malachi 2:2 explains ‘blessings’.

Verse 11 Here God says how he will bless his people. Pests (insects and diseases) will not destroy the crops. And *grapes will not fall off the *vines before they are ripe. *Grapes grow on *vines and people make wine from the *grapes.

Verse 12 There will be plenty of everything, but this is not all! The land itself (probably this means the people) will be delightful. Read 2 Corinthians 9:6-12.

Chapter 4

Notes

This is a section about people who say things against God.

3:13 The unkind words are very unkind. Some translations have ‘hard’. Perhaps ‘cruel’ would be a good translation. It means that people were saying very bad things about God. They were people who did not want to work for God.

3:14 These were the people that did not want to work for God. Perhaps they were the *Levites in Malachi 3:8-10. ‘At a funeral’ is ‘in black (clothes)’ in the *Hebrew Bible. ‘Of no use’ means ‘it does nothing good’.

3:15 They were not happy because God did not seem to punish bad people. The bad people are the ‘proud (people)’ that do ‘evil (things)’. Psalm 73 studies the same problem.

3:16 Perhaps the people that respected the *LORD had said bad things in verses 13-15. But now they were sorry. Or, they may be other people. God put their names into a book. The *Hebrew Bible does not say who wrote it down. Perhaps it was an *angel. ‘Malachi’ can mean ‘my *angel’! There are some verses about God’s book in Something to do number 10. ‘Keep them in memory’ means so that God can ‘always remember them’.

3:17 ‘Treasure’ means ‘something very valuable’. God’s people were valuable to him when he started the *covenant (Exodus 19:5). Read also Deuteronomy 7:6 and 14:2; and Psalm 135:4.

3:18 The good people serve God. The bad people do not serve God. But good people listen to him and they obey him. So God does not punish them.

4:1 A fire can make things pure (Malachi 3:2-3). But here is a fire that destroys things. It will happen to people who do not listen to God. It will happen to people who do not obey him. They are not sorry about their *sins. They will be like a tree. Not one root or branch of them will remain after the fire. ‘Fuel for the fire’ is a word that means ‘stubble’ in the *Hebrew Bible. Stubble is dead bits of plants. A hot sun (verse 2) can make them burn.

4:2 But the hot sun can be ‘a sun of *righteousness’. This is the only place in the Bible that mentions ‘a sun of righteousness’. Its wings are the streams of light from the sun. Christians believe that this is a description of Jesus Christ. A famous Christmas song by Charles Wesley includes the lines:

                                                *Hail the heaven-born Prince of peace!

                                                Hail the Sun of *Righteousness!

                                                Light and life to all he brings,

                                                Risen with healing in his wings.

‘Hail’ is another word for ‘praise’. ‘Heaven-born’ means ‘born with help from God in heaven’. ‘Healing’ means health. Jesus is the ‘heaven-born Prince of peace’ who is the Sun of *Righteousness.

Malachi says that people will become very excited. They will jump about like animals that people let out from their pens.

4:3 Deuteronomy 32:35 says that people must not try to punish their enemies. God is the greatest judge. He will punish wicked people. But here, people dance on the ashes of wicked people! The good people are glad because God has saved them from these wicked people.

Notes

Verse 4 The *Hebrew word for ‘law’ is ‘torah’. It usually means the first 5 books of the Bible. Horeb is another name for Sinai, where God gave the law to Moses (Exodus 34:1-28).

Verse 5 God says that Elijah will come to warn people. He will warn them that the day of the *LORD is near. Joel 2:31 also calls it ‘a great and terrible day’. It is the day when God will do something. It often happens, but one day it will really be for the last time. Then it will be very terrible indeed.

Verse 6 Elijah’s job will be to change people’s attitudes. Then people can obey God’s commands. They will prepare their lives for God’s work among them. But God will punish those who do not obey him.

Luke repeated Malachi 4:6 in Luke 1:17. This links John the *Baptist with Elijah. Jesus did the same thing in Matthew 11:10-15. Jesus also repeated Malachi 3:1 in these verses.

Something to do

1. Read some other verses in the Bible that contain the *Hebrew word for ‘weight’, like Malachi 1:1. See Zechariah 9:1 and 12:1.

2. Read the story about Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25:19-34.

3. Make a list of the verses in Malachi where people outside Israel give honour to God. Read again Exodus 12:48 and Ruth 1:16.

4. Pray that people all over the world will trust the one real God.

5. Study some verses about *refiners: Isaiah 1:25 and 48:10; Jeremiah 6:29-30 and Ezekiel 22:17-22.

6. Make a table of the 7 things in Malachi 3:5. Read these verses: Exodus 20:14 and 23:6; Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 6:13-15 and 19:16-20 and 24:17-18; Jeremiah 27:9; Zechariah 7:10. Then decide which bad thing each verse is about. Write it in the table below. You can find many more verses in both Old and *New Testaments that say the same.

 

What the *LORD is against	Bible verse that says so

 

7. If you can find a map, look for some of the *Levite’s towns. There is a list in Joshua chapter 21.

8. Learn to say some of the verses from Malachi from memory. (‘From memory’ means that you do not look at the words.) Here are some: Malachi 1:11; 2:7; 2:15; 3:10.

9. Study Psalm 73 and make a list of the problems in verses 2-14. Then see how the writer of Psalm 73 found an answer to his problem in verse 17.

10. Read these verses about God’s book: Genesis 15:6 (‘counted’ may mean ‘wrote it down somewhere’); Exodus 32:32; Psalms 69:28 and 87:6; and Daniel 12:1. Ask God to put your name in his book.

11. What verse in Malachi does 1 Peter 2:7, 9 remind you of?

12. ‘Remember the Torah’, (Malachi 4:4). The Torah is the name (in the Hebrew language) of the first 5 books of the Bible. Read through the notes on Malachi. Make a list of the references to these 5 books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Word List

adulterer ~ a man who has sex with another man’s wife; or, a woman who has sex with another woman’s husband.

altar ~ a special table in the *temple of God (or a false god).

angel ~ a special servant of God.

B.C. ~ 600 B.C. means the year that was 600 years before Jesus came to earth, and so on.

Baptist ~ John the Baptist was born just before Jesus was born; John put people into water to show that they wanted to obey God.

blessing ~ something good that happens to people; the opposite of a *curse.

court ~ a special yard with a wall round it.

covenant ~ agreement, especially, an agreement between God and the people.

curse ~ a wish that bad things and death will happen; in Malachi it does not mean bad language.

disrespect ~ the opposite of respect.

dung ~ dirt from an animal.

flock ~ a group of animals.

gracious ~ very kind (even when you do not have to be kind).

grape ~ a fruit; people make wine from grapes.

Greek ~ a language.

hail ~ praise.

Hebrew ~ the language that the *Jews spoke.

incense ~ substance that burns to give a pleasant smell.

Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for one of Israel’s people.

Jewish ~ a word that describes a *Jew or anything that belongs to a *Jew.

keep our promise ~ do what we promised to do.

Levites ~ the *tribe (or large family) that worked in the *temple. Some of them were priests. Other Levites helped the priests, or taught people about the Bible.

Lord ~ master; also a name for God.

LORD ~ the *covenant name of God.

messenger ~ someone who brings a message.

New Testament ~ the last part of the Bible, which the writers wrote after the life of Jesus.

Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before the life of Jesus.

pests ~ insects and diseases that destroy crops.

prophet ~ a person who hears God’s words, and tells them to other people.

refiner ~ someone that makes metals pure by fire.

righteousness ~ something that is very, very good; really, only God has righteousness.

sin ~ not to obey God’s rules.

storehouse ~ a building where people store things.

Syrian ~ a language.

temple ~ the house of a god; the Temple in Jerusalem was God’s house.

tithe ~ a tenth part.

treasure ~ something very valuable.

tribe ~ a large family that started many centuries ago, with just one mother and father.

unholy ~ not suitable for God.

useless ~ of no use.

vine ~ a small tree on which *grapes grow.

Book List

Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon by B. Davidson. (Bagster)

Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: Tyndale Old Testament Commentary by Joyce G. Baldwin. (IVP)

The Interlinear NIV Hebrew and English Old Testament by J. R. Kohlenberger III (Zondervan)

Word Biblical Commentary on Micah-Malachi by Ralph L. Smith. (Word)

© 2005, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

May 2005

Visit our website: www.easyenglish.bible