3:8

The people have just asked “How can we return?” In 3:8 and the following verses, the LORD begins to answer that question.

3:8a

Will a man rob God?: This is a rhetorical question. The question implies horror that such a thing could happen and yet it was happening. If you do not use rhetorical questions in this way in your language, you could use a statement. Here is one example:

It is wrong for a human being to rob God.

a man: This refers to human beings, not males only.

3:8e

tithes: This refers to the tenth part of all the crops which the people of Israel produced on their farms. According to the laws which the LORD gave to Moses, each person had to give one tenth back to the LORD. This was to supply food for the priests who did not have farms of their own because they were working in the temple. See Leviticus 27:30 and Numbers 18:21–29.

offerings: In this context the Hebrew word tǝruma which the Berean Standard Bible translates as offerings refers to the cereal and/or animal offerings, which also provided food for the priests.

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