The opening Hebrew word, which Revised Standard Version translates Behold, indicates the beginning of the second half of the unit 2.1-4. Within the first clause I will rebuke your offspring, there are two problems of understanding arising from uncertainties in the Hebrew text. A literal translation is “I will rebuke the seed for your sake” (Revised Version), and there are four possible understandings of “seed.”
(1) The first meaning, found in King James Version and Revised Version, takes “seed” literally so that the clause then refers to the failure of crops. The priests did not own land, so the failure of the crops would affect them only indirectly in that they would receive smaller amounts of tithe from a smaller crop.
(2) The second meaning takes “seed” figuratively to refer to the descendants of the priests. When the LORD says he will rebuke (or, “punish” as in Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) the descendants of the priests, this is understood to mean that he will reduce their numbers so that eventually there are none left. Since the priesthood was hereditary, this means it would come to an end (compare Verhoef). This is the view taken by the majority of modern versions.
(3) Some modern scholars and translators follow the Septuagint in reading the Hebrew word for “seed” with different vowels, and translate it “arm” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Beck) or “arms” (Moffatt, Revised English Bible). This makes it necessary to decide what rebuke could mean in connection with a part of the human body, and thus involves a second problem in the clause. This concerns both the form and the meaning of the Hebrew word underlying rebuke. The Septuagint seems to suggest the meaning “cut off” (New English Bible/Revised English Bible), but other choices are “disable” (Moffatt), “break” (Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible), “paralyse” (Jerusalem Bible), and “restrain” (Beck). If the priests had their arms damaged, they would not be able to perform their sacrificial duties, nor raise their arms to bless the people. But the lack of agreement among those who hold this view is an argument against accepting it.
(4) New American Bible follows the Septuagint more literally and translates “arm” as “shoulder” and interprets the verb underlying rebuke to mean “deprive.” The priests were entitled to receive the shoulder of a sacrificial animal as their special portion (Deut 18.3), so “I will deprive you of the shoulder” makes sense in connection with priestly privileges. The problem is that this does not appear to be a sufficiently severe punishment to fit the context of this verse, especially the last part.

This Handbook recommends that translators follow the Hebrew text and accept (2), the interpretation found in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The language is somewhat similar to that used in the description of the punishment of the priest Eli in 1 Sam 2.31. This interpretation means that the promise given to the priestly line in Num 25.12-13 would be canceled. “I will punish your descendants” (Contemporary English Version) is better than “I will punish your children” (Good News Translation).

And spread dung upon your faces: According to the Law (for instance in Exo 29.14; Lev 4.11-12), certain parts of sacrificed animals, including the dung, were to be taken away and burned, so for the priests to have it spread on their faces was a serious insult (compare Nahum 3.6). As well as dishonoring the priests, it would make them ritually unclean so that they could not carry out their duties. The word translated dung refers to the contents of the stomachs of sacrificial animals, not to what they had already excreted. In more detail it probably refers primarily to the contents of the fourth stomach of ruminant animals, that is, animals that chew the cud. In some languages there may be a special term for this, and if so it could be used here.

The dung of your offerings makes it clear what dung is referred to. The Hebrew word that Revised Standard Version renders offerings is literally “feasts” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), but in this context it must refer to the animals sacrificed at the feasts. Thus New International Version has “festival sacrifices” and this may be a useful model for translators in some languages.

The final clause I will put you out of my presence renders the last three words of the verse in Hebrew. It is difficult to understand these words (literally “one shall take you away to it”). The Revised Standard Version translation depends on changing the difficult Hebrew text, and this change is followed by a number of modern versions (Moffatt, New English Bible/Revised English Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version). However, it is possible to make sense of the Hebrew text as it stands, and no change is recommended in Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament or Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. The impersonal subject of the verb “take” is equivalent to “they will take you” or, more naturally in English, “you will be taken.” The last word “to it” refers to the dung already mentioned, and thus the effect of the clause is to say “you [the priests] will be thrown out with the animal dung” or “they will throw you priests out with the animal dung.” The priests would not only be insulted by having the animal dung smeared on their faces, but they would also be treated as if they themselves were dung!

Good News Translation has “you will be taken out to the dung heap” in the American and Australian editions. (The British edition has “dunghill” instead of “dung heap,” but this is only a dialect variation.) Other versions that translate in a similar way to Good News Translation include New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Beck, New Living Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente. This is the approach that this Handbook recommends.

An alternative translation model for the whole verse is:

• See, I am going to punish your descendants. I will spread on your faces the dung of the animals you sacrifice, and you will be taken away with the dung.

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 .