Malachi 1:1–4:6
*aThe burden of the word of the Lord to bIsrael †by Malachi.
2 cI have loved you, saith the Lord.
rYet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?
dWas not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord:
Yet eI loved Jacob,
3 And I fhated Esau,
And glaid his mountains and his heritage hwaste for ithe dragons of the wilderness.
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are jimpoverished,
But we will return and build the desolate places;
Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
dThey shall build, but I will throw down;
And they shall call them, kThe border of wickedness,
And, lThe people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever.
5 And myour eyes shall see, and ye shall say,
nThe Lord will be magnified ||†from kthe border of Israel.
6 oA son honoureth his father, and a servant his master:
pIf then I be a father, where is mine honour?
And if qI be a master, where is my fear?
Saith the Lord of hosts unto you, qqO priests, that despise my name.
rAnd ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
7 Ye ||soffer tpolluted ubread upon mine altar;
rAnd ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee?
In that ye say, vThe table of the Lord is contemptible.
8 And if ye soffer wthe blind †for sacrifice, is it not evil?
And if ye offer wthe lame and sick, is it not evil?
Offer it now unto xthy governor;
Will he be pleased with thee, or yaccept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.
9 And now, I pray you, beseech †God that he will be gracious unto us:
zThis hath been †by your means:
Will he yregard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts.
10 aWho is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought?
Neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought.
I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts,
bNeither will I accept an offering at your hand.
11 For cfrom the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same
dMy name shall be great eamong the Gentiles;
And fin every place gincense shall be hoffered unto my name, and ia pure koffering:
For dmy name shall be great eamong the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.
12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say,
lThe table of the Lord is polluted;
And the fruit thereof, even his meat, lis contemptible.
13 Ye said also, Behold, mwhat a weariness is it!
||And nye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts;
And ye brought that which was otorn, and pthe lame, and pthe sick;
Thus ye brought an offering:
qShould I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord.
14 But cursed be the deceiver, †which hath in his flock ra male,
And voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord sa corrupt thing:
For I am ta great King, saith the Lord of hosts,
And my name is tdreadful among the heathen.
2 And now, aO ye priests, this commandment is for you.
2 bIf ye will not hear, and if ye will not clay it to heart,
To give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts,
dI will even send dea curse upon you, and I will curse fyour blessings:
Yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not clay it to heart.
3 Behold, gI will ||corrupt your seed,
And h†spread dung upon your faces, even ithe dung of your ksolemn feasts;
And ||ilone shall take you away with it.
4 And ye shall know that I have sent mthis commandment unto you,
That nmy covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
5 noMy covenant was with him of life and opeace;
And I gave them to him pfor the fear wherewith he feared me,
And was afraid before my name.
6 qThe law of truth was in his mouth,
And iniquity was not found in his lips:
He walked with me in peace and requity,
And sdid turn many away from iniquity.
7 tFor the priest’s ulips should keep knowledge,
And tthey should seek the law at his mouth:
For he is vthe messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But ye are departed out of the way;
Ye whave caused many to ||stumble at the law;
Ye have corrupted nthe covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
9 Therefore xhave I also made you contemptible and base before all the people,
yAccording as ye have not kept my ways,
But ||†zhave been partial in the law.
10 aHave we not all one father?
bHath not one God created us?
Why do we cdeal treacherously every man against his brother,
dBy profaning the covenant of our fathers?
11 Judah hath cdealt treacherously,
And an abomination is committed in eIsrael and in Jerusalem;
For Judah hath profaned fthe holiness of the Lord which he ||loved,
gAnd hath hmarried ithe daughter of a strange god.
12 The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, ||the master and mthe scholar,
Out of the tabernacles of Jacob,
And nhim that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts.
13 And this have ye done again,
Covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out,
Insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more,
Or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
14 oYet ye say, Wherefore?
Because pthe Lord hath been witness between thee and qthe wife of thy youth,
Against whom thou hast cdealt treacherously:
Yet is she rthy companion, and rthe wife of thy covenant.
15 And sdid not he make one? Yet had he the ||residue of the spirit.
And wherefore one? That he might seek †ta godly seed.
uTherefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none cdeal ||treacherously against qthe wife of his youth.
16 For vthe Lord, the God of Israel, saith ||that he hateth †putting away:
For one covereth violence wwith his garment, saith the Lord of hosts:
uTherefore take heed to your spirit, that ye cdeal not treacherously.
17 xYe have wearied the Lord ywith your words.
oYet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him?
yWhen ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord,
And zhe delighteth in them;
Or, aWhere is the God of judgment?
3 aBehold, I will send bmy messenger, and che shall prepare the way before me:
And the Lord, dwhom ye seek, eshall suddenly come to his temple,
Even fthe messenger of the covenant, dwhom ye delight in:
Behold, ehe shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
2 But gwho may abide hthe day of his coming?
And iwho shall stand when he appeareth?
For khe is like la refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ msoap:
3 And he shall sit as la refiner and purifier of silver:
And he shall purify nthe sons of Levi, and opurge them as gold and silver,
That they may poffer unto the Lord an offering qin righteousness.
4 Then shall rthe offering of Judah and Jerusalem sbe pleasant unto the Lord,
As in the days of old, and as in ||former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment;
And tI will be a swift uwitness
Against vthe sorcerers, and against twthe adulterers, and against xfalse swearers,
And against ythose that ||zoppress the hireling in his wages,
aThe widow, and athe fatherless,
And bthat turn aside acthe stranger from his right, and fear not me,
Saith the Lord of hosts.
6 For I am the Lord, dI change not;
eTherefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 fEven from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.
gReturn unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.
hBut ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man irob God? Yet ye have irobbed me.
hBut ye say, Wherein have we irobbed thee?
9 Ye are cursed with ma curse: for ye have irobbed me,
Even this whole nation.
10 nBring ye all the tithes into pthe storehouse,
That there may be qmeat in mine house,
And rprove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts,
If I will not sopen you the windows of heaven,
And †pour you out ta blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke uthe devourer for your sakes,
And he shall not †destroy the fruits of your ground;
Neither vshall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
12 And wall nations shall call you blessed:
For ye shall be xa delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.
13 yYour words have been stout against me, saith the Lord.
hYet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
14 yzYe have said, aIt is vain to serve God:
And awhat profit is it that we have bkept †his ordinance,
And that we have walked †mournfully before the Lord of hosts?
15 cAnd now we dcall ethe proud happy;
cYea, ethey that work wickedness †are set up;
cYea, they that ftempt God are even delivered.
16 Then gthey that feared the Lord hspake often one to another:
And the Lord hearkened, and heard it,
And ia book of remembrance was written before him
For gthem that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts,
kIn that day when lI make up my ||mjewels;
And nI will spare them, oas a man spareth his own son pthat serveth him.
18 Then shall ye return, and qdiscern between the righteous and the wicked,
qBetween him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
4 For, behold, athe day cometh, bthat shall burn cas an oven;
And all dthe proud, yea, and all dthat do wickedly, eshall be stubble:
And fthe day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts,
That it shall gleave them neither hroot nor branch.
2 But unto you ithat fear my name shall kthe Sun of lrighteousness arise
And ye shall go forth, and ogrow up pas calves of the stall.
3 And fqye shall tread down the wicked;
For qrthey shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
In the day that sI shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 Remember ye tthe law of Moses umy servant,
Which I commanded unto him vin Horeb for all Israel,
With wthe statutes and judgments.
5 xBehold, I will send you yElijah the prophet
zBefore the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
6 And he shall aturn the heart of the fathers to the children,
And the heart of the children to their fathers,