Malachi 3:15
“And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →The people envy the proud and wicked, who seem to prosper and escape trouble even as they defy God.
What Does Malachi 3:15 Mean?
The complaint reaches its low point. The people now 'call the proud happy,' envying the arrogant who flourish. They see the wicked 'set up,' established and secure, and even those who 'tempt God,' brazenly testing His patience, escaping unharmed. From where they stand, wickedness looks rewarded and faithfulness looks foolish. The world seems upside down.
This is the ancient ache of the faithful watching the wicked prosper, the same struggle voiced in many a psalm. It is a real and painful puzzle, for the prosperity of the proud can shake the resolve of those trying to do right. Yet this cynical verse stands just before a turning point, for in the very next words a remnant who fear God begin to speak to one another, and God Himself listens. The appearance of things is not the end of things. What looks like the triumph of the wicked is temporary; God's accounting, as the coming verses show, will set the record right.
In the Original Language
zed (זֵד), 'proud' -- the insolent or arrogant person, presumptuous before God, whom the people wrongly envy as fortunate.