Malachi 3:7

Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The LORD of Hosts addresses the descendants of Jacob, sandwiched between His own declaration of constancy (v. 6) and the specific charge of robbing in tithes (v. 8). The moment is a diagnostic before a prescription: long-standing deviation is named, then a return is commanded.

The words — שׁוּבוּ (Shuvu), "return," is a plural imperative that carries the entire verse as its pivot. The preceding סַרְתֶּם (sar.Tem), "you have turned aside" (H5493), is a completed action verb that frames the deviation as settled fact, not a passing lapse.

The thread — Zechariah 1:3 repeats the identical "Return to Me… I will return to you" formula, and James 4:8 echoes the mutual approach ("Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you"). Romans 10:21 captures the other side of the exchange: hands held out all day long to a disobedient, obstinate people.

Why it lands — The verse names the reflex "How can we return?" as a stalling question that substitutes rhetoric for action. It demands a concrete answer to that question rather than another one.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

לְמִימֵ֨יle./mi./Mei<to>/ from/ [the] days of אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֜ם'a.vo.tei./Khemancestors/ your סַרְתֶּ֤םsar.Temyou have turned aside מֵֽחֻקַּי֙me./chu.Ka/ifrom/ statutes/ my וְלֹ֣אve./Lo'and/ not שְׁמַרְתֶּ֔םshe.mar.Temyou have kept [them]שׁ֤וּבוּShu.vureturn אֵלַי֙'e.La/ito/ me וְאָשׁ֣וּבָהve./'a.Shu.vahso/ let me return אֲלֵיכֶ֔ם'a.lei./Khemto/ you אָמַ֖ר'a.Marhe says יְהוָ֣הYah.wehYahweh צְבָא֑וֹתtze.va.'otof hosts וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖םva./'a.mar.Temand/ you say בַּמֶּ֥הba./Meh<in>/ how?נָשֽׁוּב׃na.Shuvwill we return

King James Version

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

Cross-references

Zechariah 1:3 So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’
Romans 10:21 But as for Israel he says: “All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
James 4:8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Deuteronomy 31:20 When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.
Romans 10:3 Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
Leviticus 26:40 But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
Nehemiah 9:28 But as soon as they had rest, they again did evil in Your sight. So You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, who had dominion over them. When they cried out to You again, You heard from heaven, and You delivered them many times in Your compassion.
Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
Jeremiah 3:12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.
Hosea 14:1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.