Malachi 1:4
New International Version
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.

New Living Translation
Esau’s descendants in Edom may say, “We have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins.” But the LORD of Heaven’s Armies replies, “They may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again. Their country will be known as ‘The Land of Wickedness,’ and their people will be called ‘The People with Whom the LORD Is Forever Angry.’

English Standard Version
If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’”

Berean Standard Bible
Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.

King James Bible
Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.

New King James Version
Even though Edom has said, “We have been impoverished, But we will return and build the desolate places,” Thus says the LORD of hosts: “They may build, but I will throw down; They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, And the people against whom the LORD will have indignation forever.

New American Standard Bible
Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; this is what the LORD of armies says: “They may build, but I will tear down; and people will call them the territory of wickedness, and the people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.”

NASB 1995
Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins"; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.”

NASB 1977
Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Though Edom says, “We have been demolished, but we will return and build up the waste places”; thus says Yahweh of hosts, “They may build, but I will pull down; and men will call them a territory of wickedness, and the people toward whom Yahweh is indignant forever.”

Amplified Bible
Though [impoverished] Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins.” Thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the Wicked Territory, the people against whom the LORD is indignant forever.”

Christian Standard Bible
Though Edom says, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of Armies says this: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country and the people the LORD has cursed forever.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Though Edom says: “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of Hosts says this: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country and the people the LORD has cursed forever.

American Standard Version
Whereas Edom saith, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places; thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and men shall call them The border of wickedness, and The people against whom Jehovah hath indignation for ever.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And if the Edomites will say, ”We are poor, we shall return, we shall build up the desolations”, thus says LORD JEHOVAH, they shall build and I shall throw down, and they shall call them the borders of sin and the people with whom LORD JEHOVAH is angry to eternity

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Because one will say, Idumea has been overthrown, but let us return and rebuild the desolate places; thus saith the Lord Almighty, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall be called The borders of wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord has set himself for ever.

Contemporary English Version
Esau's descendants may say, "Although our nation Edom is in ruins, we will rebuild it." But I, the LORD All-Powerful, promise to tear down whatever they build. Then everyone will know that I will never stop being angry with them as long as they are so sinful.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But if Edom shall say: We are destroyed, but we will return and build up what hath been destroyed: thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall build up, and I will throw down: and they shall be called the borders of wickedness, and the people with whom the Lord is angry for ever.

English Revised Version
Whereas Edom saith, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down: and men shall call them The border of wickedness, and The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"The descendants of Esau may say, 'We have been beaten down, but we will rebuild the ruins.' "Yet, this is what the LORD of Armies says: They may rebuild, but I will tear it down. They will be called 'the Wicked Land' and 'the people with whom the LORD is always angry.'

Good News Translation
If Esau's descendants, the Edomites, say, "Our towns have been destroyed, but we will rebuild them," then the LORD will reply, "Let them rebuild--I will tear them down again. People will call them 'The evil country' and 'The nation with whom the LORD is angry forever.'"

International Standard Version
Even though Edom may claim, 'We were crushed, but we will return and rebuild the ruins,' this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "They may rebuild, but I'll demolish. People will call them, 'The Wicked Land,' and, 'The People With Whom the LORD is Forever Angry.'

JPS Tanakh 1917
Whereas Edom saith: 'We are beaten down, But we will return and build the waste places'; Thus saith the LORD of hosts: They shall build, but I will throw down; And they shall be called The border of wickedness, And The people whom the LORD execrateth for ever.

Literal Standard Version
Because Edom says, We have been made poor, | And we return and we build the ruins, | Thus said YHWH of Hosts: They build, and I destroy, | And [men] have called to them, | O region of wickedness, | O people whom YHWH defied for all time.

Majority Standard Bible
Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.

New American Bible
If Edom says, “We have been crushed, but we will rebuild the ruins,” Thus says the LORD of hosts: They indeed may build, but I will tear down, And they shall be called “territory of wickedness,” the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.

NET Bible
Edom says, "Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places." So the LORD who rules over all responds, "They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as the land of evil, the people with whom the LORD is permanently displeased.

New Revised Standard Version
If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of hosts says: They may build, but I will tear down, until they are called the wicked country, the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.

New Heart English Bible
Whereas Edom says, "We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;" thus says the LORD of hosts, "They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them 'The Wicked Land,' even the people against whom the LORD shows wrath forever."

Webster's Bible Translation
Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.

World English Bible
Whereas Edom says, “We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places,” Yahweh of Armies says, “They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them ‘The Wicked Land,’ even the people against whom Yahweh shows wrath forever.”

Young's Literal Translation
Because Edom saith, 'We have been made poor, And we turn back and we build the wastes,' Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: They do build, and I do destroy, And men have called to them, 'O region of wickedness,' 'O people whom Jehovah defied to the age.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The LORD's Love for Israel
3but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” 4Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever. 5You will see this with your own eyes, and you yourselves will say, ‘The LORD is great—even beyond the borders of Israel.’ ”…

Cross References
Isaiah 9:9
All the people will know it--Ephraim and the dwellers of Samaria. With pride and arrogance of heart they will say:

Isaiah 9:10
"The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars."

Isaiah 34:5
When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.

Isaiah 34:10
It will not be quenched--day or night. Its smoke will ascend forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever again pass through it.

Jeremiah 5:17
They will devour your harvest and food; they will consume your sons and daughters; they will eat up your flocks and herds; they will feed on your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust."

Jeremiah 49:8
Turn and run! Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time I punish him.

Jeremiah 49:20
Therefore hear the plans that the LORD has drawn up against Edom and the strategies He has devised against the people of Teman: Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away; certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.


Treasury of Scripture

Whereas Edom said, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus said the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD has indignation for ever.

but.

Isaiah 9:9,10
And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, …

James 4:13-16
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: …

They shall build.

Job 9:4
He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?

Job 12:14
Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.

Job 34:29
When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:

The border.

Jeremiah 31:17
And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

Ezekiel 11:10
Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Amos 6:2
Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?

The people.

Malachi 1:3
And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Psalm 137:7
Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

Isaiah 11:14
But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.

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Malachi 1
1. Malachi complains of Israel's unkindness;
2. of their irreverence and profaneness.














(4) Whereas . . . saith.--Better, If Edom say.

We are impoverished.--Better, we are broken to pieces. Edom's ineffectual attempts to restore itself will be looked on as proofs of God's wrath against the nation on account of its wickedness, and will acquire for it the titles "border of wickedness," "the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever." "Border" means "confines," "territory;" Latin, fines.

Keith, Evidence of Prophecy, pp. 309, 310, in reference to the literal fulfilment of this prophecy, writes as follows:--"In recording the invasion of Demetrius, about three hundred years before the Christian era, into the land of Edom, Diodorus describes the country as a desert, and the inhabitants as living without houses; nor does he mention any city in that region but Petra alone. Yet the names of some of the cities of Arabia Petraea, enumerated by Josephus, as existing at the time when the Romans invaded Palestine--the names of eighteen cities of Palestina Tertia, of which Petra was the capital, and the metropolitan see, in the times of the Lower Empire--and the towns laid down in D'Anville's map, together with the subsisting ruins of towns in Edom, specified by Burckhardt, and also by Laborde, give proof that Edom, after having been impoverished, did return, and build the desolate places, even as 'the ruined towns and places,' still visible and named, show that though the desolate places were built again according to the prophecy, they have, as likewise foretold, been thrown down, and are 'ruined places' lying in utter desolation."

Verse 4. - Whereas; rather, if, or although; Vulgate, quod si. If Edom were to attempt to repair its desolation, the Lord would not permit it - a striking contrast to the national restoration of Israel. We are impoverished; or, as the Revised Version, we are beaten; Septuagint, ἡ Ἰδουμαία κατέστραπται, "Idumea has been overthrown." Vulgate, destructl sumus. The desolate places; Vulgate, quae destructa sunt, places once in habited and now deserted. Compare the boast of the Ephraimites (Isaiah 9:9, 10). I win throw down. Edom never recovered its power; it became the prey of the Per starts, the Nabatheans, the Jews under the Maccabees, the Macedonians, the Romans; and finally the Mohammedan conquest effected its utter ruin. They (men) shall call them, The border of wickedness. Edom shall be called, "The territory of iniquity," its miserable condition attesting the wicked ness of the inhabitants thus punished by Divine justice. Hath indignation; Septuagint, παρατέτακται, "hath" been set in battle array;" St. Jerome, "My anger is proved by their enduring desolation; and in contrast to the evils experienced by your brother, ye shall experience the goodness of God towards you."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Though
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

Edom
אֱד֜וֹם (’ĕ·ḏō·wm)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 123: The name of a condiment

may say,
תֹאמַ֨ר (ṯō·mar)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“We have been devastated,
רֻשַּׁ֗שְׁנוּ (ruš·šaš·nū)
Verb - Pual - Perfect - first person common plural
Strong's 7567: To beat down, shatter

but we will rebuild
וְנָשׁוּב֙ (wə·nā·šūḇ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect - first person common plural
Strong's 7725: To turn back, in, to retreat, again

the ruins,”
חֳרָב֔וֹת (ḥo·rā·ḇō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 2723: Waste, desolation, ruin

this is what
כֹּ֤ה (kōh)
Adverb
Strong's 3541: Like this, thus, here, now

the LORD
יְהוָ֣ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

of Hosts
צְבָא֔וֹת (ṣə·ḇā·’ō·wṯ)
Noun - common plural
Strong's 6635: A mass of persons, reg, organized for, war, a campaign

says:
אָמַר֙ (’ā·mar)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“They
הֵ֥מָּה (hêm·māh)
Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They

may build,
יִבְנ֖וּ (yiḇ·nū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1129: To build

but I
וַאֲנִ֣י (wa·’ă·nî)
Conjunctive waw | Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 589: I

will demolish.
אֶהֱר֑וֹס (’e·hĕ·rō·ws)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 2040: To pull down, in pieces, break, & destroy

They will be called
וְקָרְא֤וּ (wə·qā·rə·’ū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 7121: To call, proclaim, read

the Land
גְּב֣וּל (gə·ḇūl)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1366: A cord, a boundary, the territory inclosed

of Wickedness,
רִשְׁעָ֔ה (riš·‘āh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7564: Wickedness

and a people
וְהָעָ֛ם (wə·hā·‘ām)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

toward whom
אֲשֶׁר־ (’ă·šer-)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

the LORD
יְהוָ֖ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

is indignant
זָעַ֥ם (zā·‘am)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2194: To foam at the mouth, to be enraged

forever.
עַד־ (‘aḏ-)
Preposition
Strong's 5704: As far as, even to, up to, until, while


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OT Prophets: Malachi 1:4 Whereas Edom says We are beaten down (Malachi Mal Ml)
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