A literal translation of Malachi 2:11 would read, “Judah has profaned the holy of the Lord.” The cryptic reference to the “holy of the Lord” seems to be without an object. We are left with the question, “The holy ‘what’ of the Lord? Is this a reference to the holy ‘place’ of the Lord?” That is possible (Exodus 28:43, Exodus 29:30). Could it refer to God’s holy people? That, too, is possible. Ezra, who prophesied in the same context as Malachi, referred to Israel as God’s holy race. Malachi’s reference in Malachi 2:15 to a “godly offspring” makes it likely that “the holy of the Lord” in this verse is a reference to God’s holy people, an idea deeply rooted in Israel’s early history (Exodus 19:6). By their faithlessness and abominations, the people of Judah profaned (or defiled or made common) themselves who are God’s special people whom he loves (Malachi 1:2, “I have loved you, says the Lord”; see also Jeremiah 31:3).
11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.