Malachi 3:14

And ye said, He is vain, that serveth God; and what winning for we kept his behests, and for we went sorrowful before the Lord of hosts? (Ye have said, It is empty and futile to serve God; and what profit, or what benefit, is there for us, though we have kept his commands, and we have gone sorrowfully before the Lord of hosts, because of our shortcomings?)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

In The King James Version

Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?

In Context

13Your words waxed strong on me, saith the Lord; and ye said, What have we spoken against thee? (Your words have grown strong against me, saith the Lord; and ye said, What have we said against thee?)

15Therefore now we say proud men [be] blessed; for they be builded doing wickedness, and they tempted God, and be made safe. (And so now we say that proud people be blessed; for they be built up, or become prosperous, doing wickedness, and they tempted God, and came to no harm.)

Read all of Malachi 3

Cross References

Job 21:15Who is Almighty God, that we serve him? and what profiteth it to us, if we pray (to) him?

Job 34:9For he said, A man shall not please God, yea, though he run with God. (For he said, Yea, though one may run with God, he still shall not please God.)

Psalms 73:8They thought and spake waywardness; they spake wickedness on high (or they spoke wickedness out loud).

Isaiah 58:3Why fasted we, and thou beheldest not; we meeked our souls, and thou knewest not? Lo! your will is found in the day of your fasting, and ye ask all your debtors. ( But they also say, Why did we fast, if thou beheldest not? why did we meek, or humble, our souls, if thou knewest not? And I replieth, Behold! ye pursue your own desires on the day of your fast, and ye oppress all your workers.)

Joel 2:12Now therefore saith the Lord, Be ye turned again to me in all your heart, in fasting, and weeping, and wailing; (And yet even now, saith the Lord, turn ye again to me or return to me, with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and wailing;)

Zechariah 7:3that they should say to priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to prophets, and speak, Whether it is to weep to me in the fifth month, either I shall hallow me, as I did now many years? (and so that they could ask the priests of the House of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, Is it for me to weep and to consecrate, or to dedicate, myself in the fifth month, as I have done now for so many years?)

Matthew Henry on Malachi 3:14-18

Wicked Conversation Reproved; Evil Maxims of Sinners; Pious Converse Commended; Promises to the Godly. ( b. c. 400.) 13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord . Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? 14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? 15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. 16 Then… Read the whole commentary →

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