Malachi 1

THE LORD’S LOVE FOR ISRAEL

1A pronouncement:^a

The word of the Lord^b to Israel through^c Malachi.^A

²“I have loved you,”^d says the Lord.

Yet you ask, “How have you loved us?”

“Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?”^e This is the Lord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob, ³but I hated Esau.^f I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”^g

⁴Though Edom says, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild^B the ruins,” the Lord of Armies says this: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country^h and the people the Lord has cursed^C forever.^{i 5}Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say, ‘The Lord is great, even beyond^D the borders of Israel.’^j

DISOBEDIENCE OF THE PRIESTS

⁶“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me?^k says the Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.”

Yet you ask, “How have we despised your name?”

⁷“By presenting defiled food on my altar.”

“How have we defiled you?” you ask.^l

When you say, “The Lord’s table is contemptible.”^m

⁸“When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong?ⁿ Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies. ⁹“And now plead for God’s favor. Will he be gracious to us?^o Since this has come from your hands, will he show any of you favor?”^p asks the Lord of Armies. ¹⁰“I wish one of you would shut the temple doors,^q so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar!^r I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Armies, “and I will accept^s no offering from your hands.^t

¹¹“My name will be great among the nations,^u from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense^E and pure offerings will be presented in my name in every place because my name will be great among the nations,”^F says the Lord of Armies.

¹²“But you are profaning it^v when you say, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.’ ¹³You also say, ‘Look, what a nuisance!’ And you scorn^G it,”^Hw says the Lord of Armies. “You bring stolen,^Ix lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?” asks the Lord.

¹⁴“The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord.^y For I am a great King,” says the Lord of Armies, “and my name will be feared among the nations.