Good News Translation has a section heading at this point, but this Handbook recommends that it should be placed at verse 7 instead. (This is the only point at which we depart from Wendland’s analysis.) Versions that close the paragraph at the end of verse 6 include Revised Version, New American Standard Bible, and La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée; and several scholars support this view, including Driver, J. M. P. Smith, and Cashdan. The content of a section heading is discussed in the introductory notes on 3.7-12.

For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed: Although this verse is short, it is nevertheless open to more than one interpretation. First of all, the occurrence of the Hebrew conjunction ki (translated For in Revised Standard Version) is one of the main reasons for believing that this verse is linked more closely with verse 5 than with verse 7. This conjunction normally indicates a close link with what has gone before. As Driver notes, “this verse must give the reason for vv 2-5.” Other scholars such as Verhoef claim that in this verse ki functions as an adverb rather than a conjunction, and means “Truly.”

Second, the Hebrew does not contain anything equivalent to the Revised Standard Version therefore. The conjunction is the usual word for “and.” It can indeed mean therefore in certain contexts, but probably does not have that meaning here.

The two halves of the verse are closely parallel in structure in the Hebrew, literally:
For I LORD not I-change
and-you [plural] sons-of Jacob not you-cease.

The parallelism of structure indicates that the two halves should be interpreted as having parallel clause construction and meaning. The first half may be interpreted either as Revised Standard Version I the LORD do not change, or as “I am the LORD I have not changed” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; similarly King James Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation). Likewise the second half may be interpreted either as Revised Standard Version you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed or as “you are the children of Jacob—you have not ceased to be” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; others are similar). The parallelism of structure strongly suggests the New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh interpretations are to be preferred. The statement “you are the children of Jacob” means that the people of Malachi’s generation shared the character of their ancestor Jacob in being cheats. This both fits what has been said in verses 2-5 and forms a basis for what is to follow in verses 7-8. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes the information about Jacob clearer by saying, “You are always the true sons of your ancestor Jacob.” Translators could also say “You still cheat like your ancestor Jacob.”

One other problem is the meaning of the Hebrew word translated consumed in Revised Standard Version. The New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh rendering “ceased to be” catches the ambiguity: the verb may mean “cease” in the sense of “cease to exist” (that is, “be destroyed or consumed)” or “cease” in the sense of “cease to be/do what you have already been/done.” Among ancient versions the Vulgate represents the first interpretation and the Septuagint the second. Revised Standard Version follows the Vulgate tradition of interpretation and this is why it adds therefore as the link between the two clauses. The meaning of Revised Standard Version is that because of the LORD’s unchanging mercy his people have not been destroyed, despite all their sins. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh follows the Septuagint tradition of interpretation, and simply translates the Hebrew conjunction literally as “and.”

In the light of the discourse considerations that link verse 6 with the previous verses, the New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh interpretation seems best. It adds nothing to the Hebrew textually, it respects both the discourse structure of the paragraph and the grammatical structure of the sentence, and it produces a meaning fully in keeping with the context. So this Handbook advises translators to accept the interpretation found in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh.

However, the ambiguity of the New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh wording “you have not ceased to be” cannot be recommended. The parallelism of the whole sentence strongly suggests that the meaning is “you have not ceased to be children of Jacob” (New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible; similarly Moffatt, New American Bible, New English Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). This rendering gives an ironic contrast between the two halves of the verse, and picks up the ironic tone seen in the first person statements in verse 1. The other possible meaning “you … are not destroyed” (New International Version; similarly Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Beck, New Living Translation) has no particular relevance either to this paragraph or the following one.

An alternative translation model for the whole verse is:

• For I am the LORD, I have not changed. And you are the children of Jacob, you have not changed either!

In the context of the whole paragraph 2.17–3.6, the LORD is asserting that despite the popular opinions about him in 2.17, he has not ceased to distinguish between right and wrong, and to support the right. And in like manner, as shown by their behavior described in verse 5, the people have not ceased to be cheats and swindlers as their ancestor Jacob was. If translators accept this interpretation, they may wish to add a footnote referring to this aspect of Jacob’s character.

In some languages it may be helpful to place the quotation formula found in verse 5 in Hebrew at the end of verse 6, that is at the end of the paragraph. It may also be helpful to add a footnote with an alternative rendering, especially if translators accept the advice of this Handbook, but some influential version in their area is based on the same interpretation as Revised Standard Version.

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 .