Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD: Once the priests are carrying out their duties with sincerity and ritual correctness, then the offerings of “the people of Judah and Jerusalem” (Good News Translation) will again be acceptable to the LORD. For comments on Judah and Jerusalem, see the notes on 2.11. The Hebrew word order puts some emphasis on pleasing. The word here translated pleasing is not the same term as occurred in 2.17 and 3.1, where Revised Standard Version has “delight in.” Here the meaning is more like “sweet.” Other renderings include “welcome” (Moffatt, Jerusalem Bible) and “accept/acceptable” (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation). This word is also used in the context of sacrifices in Jer 6.20.

As in the days of old and as in former years: These two phrases are parallel with each other and say essentially the same thing. The days of old is used elsewhere both of the period of Moses (Isa 63.11) and that of David (Amos 9.11). In all likelihood Malachi is thinking of the time when the Levites were zealous in their duties (see for instance Num 25.6-13), that is to say primarily the time of Moses. The former years is a vague and general expression without clear reference to any particular period. In some languages it may be more natural to run these two phrases into one and say “in the past” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), “in former times” (New Living Translation), or “in ancient times” (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 2. Edition).

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 .