3:3a

a refiner and purifier of silver: This phrase uses the same type of metaphor as 3:2c used. In this verse there is no difference in meaning between refiner and purifier.

3:3b

the sons of Levi: Since all priests were descendants of Levi, the sons of Levi included the priests. It also included other descendants of Levi who served in the temple in other ways.

If your readers do not know this, they will not understand the argument here. There are two ways to supply the information:

• Use the term “priests” in the text, as Good News Translation has done:

• Use a footnote.

3:3d

Then: The Hebrew conjunction w- is translated by the Berean Standard Bible as Then. Here it introduces the result of 3:3b–c. Other English versions translate it with “so that” or “till” (short for “until”). For example:

the LORD’s messenger will purify the priests, so that they will bring to the Lord the right kind of offerings. (Good News Translation)
-or-
he will purify Levi’s sons and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the Lord. (Revised Standard Version)

Use what is natural in your language here.

they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness: The Hebrew phrase which the Berean Standard Bible translates as present offerings…in righteousness can have two possible interpretations here:

(1) The phrase in righteousness qualifies offerings. This refers to offerings that are the sort of offering that the LORD had told his people to bring, that is, unblemished offerings. For example:

Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering. (NET Bible)

(2) The phrase in righteousness is adverbial, and it indicates the correct way to present offerings. This refers to the way the people were to present their offerings; that is, they were to present them in the proper way, as the LORD had told them to. For example:

and so they will be fit to bring offerings to the Lord. (Revised English Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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