Malachi 1:1
Malachi's message is described as The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel (1). The term burden is derived from a Hebrew word meaning “to lift up” (i.e., the voice). By a natural extension this came to refer to the words the voice uttered, the speaker's message or the prophet's oracle. The latter may appropriately be called his burden since it is literally “that which is lifted up.”1 Jerome comments: “The word of the Lord is heavy, because it is called a burden, yet it hath something of consolation, because it is not ‘against’ but to Israel” 2
For the significance of by Malachi see Introduction, “The Prophet.”