May the LORD cut off: This is apparently the response of the prophet to the situation he has described. In Revised Standard Version and most other versions it takes the form of a wish, expressed with May …. Another possible way to say this is “I pray that the LORD will…” (Contemporary English Version). The verb cut off is a common term in Hebrew, and here as often elsewhere, it means “remove” (Good News Translation), “banish” (New English Bible/Revised English Bible), or “destroy” (as in the Septuagint and the Vulgate).

The tents of Jacob is an expression that occurs elsewhere only in Jer 30.18, and looks back to nomadic times; in Malachi’s day it meant simply “the community of Israel” (Good News Translation) or “the nation of Israel” (New Living Translation).

For the man who does this: The word translated man is a masculine word in Hebrew, and not a broad term meaning people in general. In this context the reference must be to a man who has taken a foreign wife. It is not immediately obvious what this refers to; but we should note that the form of the suffix translated this is feminine in Hebrew, and the verb here translated does is the same verb that occurred with the feminine noun “abomination” in verse 11. It therefore seems likely that the meaning is “the man who commits such an abominable deed.” A possible alternative model for the first part of this verse is “I pray [or, ask] the LORD to remove from the community of Israel any man who does this” or “… that the LORD will no longer let those men who have done this belong to his people.”

Any to witness or answer: These words are very difficult to understand in detail, though the general sense is reasonably clear. As the footnote indicates, Revised Standard Version translates not the traditional Hebrew text but a text with one letter different, which seems to be what the Septuagint translators had before them. The Hebrew is literally “everyone who awakes and answers” (New American Standard Bible) and there is some alliteration (similarity of sound) between the two Hebrew verbs. Various explanations have been given to the words since ancient times. One explanation takes them to refer to the practice of learning by memory, so that “the one who awakes” is the teacher and “the one who answers” is the pupil. This interpretation was followed by the Latin Vulgate, and is also found in King James Version “the master and the scholar.” A second explanation relates the words to an ancient practice of keeping guard in a camp, where one person would call out and another would answer (compare New American Standard Bible quoted above). This has the advantage that it fits with the mention of the tents of Jacob.

Those who prefer to follow the text underlying the Septuagint (Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible) see a legal setting, and translate in some such way as “witness and advocate” (New Jerusalem Bible). The sense of this seems to be that the offender will have no one to speak in his defense.

Whatever the detailed meaning of the original, it is generally accepted that the two terms formed a proverbial pair whose overall thrust was to include everybody. Versions that try to preserve this aspect of the meaning have such renderings as “whoever he be” (Jerusalem Bible; similarly Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), “every last man” (New Living Translation), and “leave … no descendants” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Moffatt keeps the alliterative force of the Hebrew with “strip him of his kith and kin” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). It is not clear how New English Bible and Revised English Bible arrive at the rendering “nomads or settlers,” and since this has no clear connection with the context, translators are advised not to follow it. In Good News Translation the phrase is absorbed into the bland expression “those who did this,” which loses the idiomatic feel of the Hebrew, as does Contemporary English Version. For the first part of the verse, perhaps translators may say something like “May the LORD punish every man who has done such a terrible thing by expelling every single member of his family from the people of Israel.”

Or to bring an offering to the LORD of hosts: In Hebrew these words describe another class of helper that the man with a foreign wife will be deprived of. There will be nobody in his family to bring an offering to the LORD. The term for offering is used primarily of grain offerings, though it may sometimes include offerings of animals, as in 1.10, 13.

It is also possible to understand the person who wants to bring an offering to the LORD of hosts as the offender himself (the man who does this). By this understanding, the offender is to be punished despite his attempt to win the LORD’s favor by means of an offering. This interpretation is found in New International Version: “even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty” (similarly New English Bible/Revised English Bible, New Living Translation).

In this last expression also the Septuagint appears to have used a Hebrew text a little different from the traditional text, in this case one with two extra letters. The effect of the extra letters is to make this expression parallel with from the tents of Jacob rather than with any to witness or answer. Translators who follow the Septuagint here have a rendering like “… cut him off from the tents of Jacob and from the company of those who present the offering…” (Jerusalem Bible).

Neither of the readings presupposed by the Septuagint improves the grammar or the sense of the verse, and we recommend that translators should follow the advice of Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project and retain the traditional Hebrew text.

Model renderings for the whole verse on this basis are:

• May the LORD punish every man who has done such a terrible thing by expelling [or, rooting out] from the people of Israel every single member of his family. As a result there will be no one left to bring an offering to the LORD Almighty for him!

• May the LORD destroy from among the people of Israel the whole family of any man who has done such a dreadful deed! May there be nobody left to bring an offering to the LORD Almighty!

If the approach of New English Bible/Revised English Bible, New International Version, and New Living Translation is preferred, possible model renderings are:

• May the LORD punish each man who has done such an awful thing, even if he brings an offering to the LORD Almighty! May the LORD destroy his entire family from the community of Israel!

• May the LORD punish every man who has done such an abominable thing by wiping out his family from the nation of Israel! May this happen even if the man brings an offering to the LORD Almighty!

It remains only to notice a curious difference between the American and British texts of Good News Translation. Where the American edition has “those who did this,” some British editions have “those who do this.” The sense of the British wording is that there are still people in the process of taking non-Jewish wives, and this is a slightly more accurate reflection of the Hebrew. But for many translators the form of the verb would be determined by the structure of the paragraph, and there would be no choice at this point. Most English versions have a present tense, though the Australian edition of Good News Translation is closer to the American edition than to the British, and has “those who have done this.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Malachi. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .