Malachi 1:1–4:6
1 The 1burden of the word of the Lord to Israel 2by Malachi.
2 “I ahave loved you,” says the Lord.
“Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’
Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?”
Says the Lord.
“Yet bJacob I have loved;
And claid waste his mountains and his heritage
For the jackals of the wilderness.”
“We have been impoverished,
But we will return and build the desolate places,”
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“They may build, but I will dthrow down;
They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness,
And the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever.
And you shall say,
e‘The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel.’
6 “A son fhonors his father,
And a servant his master.
gIf then I am the Father,
Where is My honor?
And if I am a Master,
Where is My reverence?
Says the Lord of hosts
To you priests who despise My name.
hYet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’
7 “You offer idefiled food on My altar,
But say,
‘In what way have we defiled You?’
By saying,
j‘The table of the Lord is 3contemptible.’
8 And kwhen you offer the blind as a sacrifice,
Is it not evil?
And when you offer the lame and sick,
Is it not evil?
Offer it then to your governor!
Would he be pleased with you?
Would he laccept 4you favorably?”
Says the Lord of hosts.
9 “But now entreat God’s favor,
That He may be gracious to us.
mWhile this is being done by your hands,
Will He accept you favorably?”
Says the Lord of hosts.
10 “Who is there even among you who would shut the doors,
nSo that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain?
I have no pleasure in you,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
o“Nor will I accept an offering from your hands.
11 For pfrom the rising of the sun, even to its going down,
My name shall be great qamong the Gentiles;
rIn every place sincense shall be offered to My name,
And a pure offering;
tFor My name shall be great among the nations,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
In that you say,
u‘The table of the 5Lord is defiled;
And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’
‘Oh, what a vweariness!’
And you sneer at it,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
“And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick;
Thus you bring an offering!
wShould I accept this from your hand?”
Says the Lord.
14 “But cursed be xthe deceiver
Who has in his flock a male,
And takes a vow,
But sacrifices to the Lord ywhat is blemished—
For zI am a great King,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“And My name is to be feared among the nations.
2 “And now, O apriests, this commandment is for you.
2 bIf you will not hear,
And if you will not take it to heart,
To give glory to My name,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“I will send a curse upon you,
And I will curse your blessings.
Yes, I have cursed them calready,
Because you do not take it to heart.
3 “Behold, I will rebuke your descendants
And spread drefuse on your faces,
The refuse of your solemn feasts;
And one will etake you away 1with it.
4 Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you,
That My covenant with Levi may continue,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
5 “My fcovenant was with him, one of life and peace,
And I gave them to him gthat he might fear Me;
So he feared Me
And was reverent before My name.
6 hThe 2law of truth was in his mouth,
And 3injustice was not found on his lips.
He walked with Me in peace and equity,
And iturned many away from iniquity.
7 “For jthe lips of a priest should keep knowledge,
And people should seek the law from his mouth;
kFor he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But you have departed from the way;
You lhave caused many to stumble at the law.
mYou have corrupted the covenant of Levi,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
9 “Therefore nI also have made you contemptible and base
Before all the people,
Because you have not kept My ways
But have shown opartiality in the law.”
10 pHave we not all one Father?
qHas not one God created us?
Why do we deal treacherously with one another
By profaning the covenant of the fathers?
11 Judah has dealt treacherously,
And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,
For Judah has rprofaned
The Lord’s holy institution which He loves:
He has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob
The man who does this, being 4awake and aware,
Yet swho brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!
13 And this is the second thing you do:
You cover the altar of the Lord with tears,
With weeping and crying;
So He does not regard the offering anymore,
Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
14 Yet you say, “For what reason?”
Because the Lord has been witness
Between you and tthe wife of your youth,
With whom you have dealt treacherously;
uYet she is your companion
And your wife by covenant.
15 But vdid He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks wgodly offspring.
“Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.
16 “For xthe Lord God of Israel says
That He hates divorce,
For it covers one’s garment with violence,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
That you do not deal treacherously.”
17 yYou have wearied the Lord with your words;
“Yet you say,
“In what way have we wearied Him?”
In that you say,
z“Everyone who does evil
Is good in the sight of the Lord,
And He delights in them,”
Or, “Where is the God of justice?”
3 “Behold, aI send My messenger,
And he will bprepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
cEven the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, dHe is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
2 “But who can endure ethe day of His coming?
And fwho can stand when He appears?
For gHe is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
3 hHe will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And 1purge them as gold and silver,
That they may ioffer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.
4 “Then jthe offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be 2pleasant to the Lord,
As in the days of old,
As in former years.
5 And I will come near you for judgment;
I will be a swift witness
Against sorcerers,
Against adulterers,
kAgainst perjurers,
Against those who lexploit wage earners and mwidows and orphans,
And against those who turn away an alien—
Because they do not fear Me,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
6 “For I am the Lord, nI do not change;
oTherefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
7 Yet from the days of pyour fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
qReturn to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
r“But you said,
‘In what way shall we return?’
8 “Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
sIn tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 tBring all the tithes into the ustorehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the vwindows of heaven
And wpour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
11 “And I will rebuke xthe devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts;
12 And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be ya delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
13 “Your zwords have been 3harsh against Me,”
Says the Lord,
Yet you say,
‘What have we spoken against You?’
14 aYou have said,
‘It is useless to serve God;
What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
And that we have walked as mourners
Before the Lord of hosts?
15 So now bwe call the proud blessed,
For those who do wickedness are 4raised up;
They even ctempt God and go free.’ ”
16 Then those dwho feared the Lord espoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So fa book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who 5meditate on His name.
17 “They gshall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My hjewels. 6
And iI will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
18 jThen you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
4 “For behold, athe day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all bthe proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be cstubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“That will dleave them neither root nor branch.
2 But to you who efear My name
The fSun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
3 gYou shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
4 “Remember the hLaw of Moses, My servant,
Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,
With ithe statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you jElijah the prophet
kBefore the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,