Malachi 1–4

1An oracle.^a The word of Yahweh to Israel through^b Malachi.^c

An Oracle Against Edom

²“I have loved you,” says Yahweh, but you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is Esau not Jacob’s brother?” declares^d Yahweh. “I have loved Jacob, ³but Esau I have hated. I have made his^e mountain ranges a desolation, and given his inheritance to the jackals of the desert.” ⁴If Edom says, “We are shattered, but we will return and rebuild the ruins,” Yahweh of hosts says this: “They may build, but I will tear down; and they will be called a territory of wickedness, and the people with whom Yahweh is angry forever.” ⁵Your eyes will see this, and you will say, “Yahweh is great beyond the borders^f of Israel.”

An Oracle Against the Temple Priesthood

⁶“A son honors his father, and a slave his master;^g but if I am a father, where is my honor, and if I am a master,^h where is my reverence?” says Yahweh of hosts to you, O priests, who despiseⁱ my name. “But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ ⁷You are presenting defiled food on my altar! But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying that the table of Yahweh is despised! ⁸When you offer a blind animal for sacrifice, is that not wrong?^j And when you offer the lame and the one who is ill, is that not wrong?^k Present it, please, to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Will he show you favor?”^l says Yahweh of hosts. ⁹So then, implore the favor of God^m so that he will be gracious to us. “This is what you have done.ⁿ Will he show favor to any of you?”^o says Yahweh of hosts. ¹⁰“Who also among you will shut the temple doors so that you will not kindle fire in vain on my altar? I take no pleasure in you,” says Yahweh of hosts, “and I will not accept^p an offering from your hand. ¹¹From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is being presented to my name, and a pure offering. For my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of hosts. ¹²“But you are profaning it by saying the table of the Lord is defiled, and its fruit—its food^q—is despised! ¹³And you say, ‘Look! This is a weariness,’ and you sniff with disdain at it,” says Yahweh of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the one that is sick—this you bring as the offering! Should I accept it^r from your hand?” says Yahweh. ¹⁴“Cursed is the one who cheats, who has in his flock a male and vows it, but instead sacrifices a blemished one to the Lord! For I am a great king,” says Yahweh of hosts, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

2“And so then, O priests, this command is for you: ²If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart^a to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of hosts, “then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings; moreover I have already cursed them because you are not taking it to heart.^{b 3}Look! I am going to rebuke your offspring,^c and I will scatter offal on your faces, the offal of your religious feasts, and you will be carried to it.^d

⁴“Then you will know that I have sent to you this command, that my covenant with Levi continues,”^e says Yahweh of hosts. ⁵“My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. This required reverence, and he revered^f me and stood in awe before^g my name. ⁶The instruction of truth^h was in his mouth, and wickedness was not found on his lips. In peace and in uprightnessⁱ he walked with me, and he brought back many from sin.^{j 7}For the lips of the priest should guard knowledge, and they should seek instruction^k from his mouth, for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts. ⁸But you, you have turned from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction;^l you have ruined the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of hosts. ⁹“And in turn I have made you despised and humbled before all the people, inasmuch as you are not keeping^m my way, but are favoring your own instruction.”ⁿ

Yahweh Hates Faithlessness

¹⁰Do we not all have^o one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we unfaithful to one another,^p profaning the covenant of our ancestors?^{q 11}Judah has been faithless, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah has profaned the sanctuary of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign^r god. ¹²May Yahweh cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, the one who is awake and who answers, and the one who brings an offering to Yahweh of hosts!

¹³And this you do as well:^s you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because he^t no longer regards the offering^u or accepts it with favor from your hand. ¹⁴But you ask, “For what reason?”^v Because Yahweh stands as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have been unfaithful, even though she is your marriage partner and your wife by covenant.^{w 15}Did not one God make them?^x But a remnant of the spirit is his.^y And what does the one God desire? An offspring of God.^z You must be attentive to^a your spirit, and you must not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. ¹⁶“For I hate divorce,”^b says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and he who covers his clothing with violence,” says Yahweh of hosts. “You must be attentive to^c your spirit and you must not be unfaithful.”

¹⁷You have wearied Yahweh with your words, but you ask, “With what have we wearied him?” You have done so when you say,^d “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight^e of Yahweh, and in them he delights,” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Yahweh’s Messenger is Coming

3“Look! I am going to send my messenger,^a and he will prepare^b the way before me.^c And the Lord whom you are seeking will come suddenly to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you are taking pleasure—look!—he is about to come,” says Yahweh of hosts. ²And who can endure the day of his coming? And who is the one who can stand when he appears?^d For he is like a refiner’s fire, like launderers’ alkali.^{e 3}He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the children of Levi, and he will refine them like gold and like silver, and they will present to Yahweh offerings^f in righteousness. ⁴And the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Yahweh, like in the days of old and like in former years.

⁵“Then I will approach you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely,^g and against the oppressors of the hired worker with his wages, the widow and the orphan, and the abusers of^h the alien,ⁱ and yet do not fear me,” says Yahweh of hosts.

An Overflowing Blessing

⁶“For I, Yahweh, have not changed,^j and you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.^{k 7}From the days of your ancestors^l you have turned aside from my rules, and have not kept^m them! Return to me and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of hosts, “but you say, ‘How shall we return?’

⁸Will a human dare to rob God? Yet you are robbing me! And you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In the tithes and the contributions! ⁹You are being cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you! ¹⁰Bring the whole tithe to the storehouse,ⁿ so that there will be food in my house, and test me please in this,” says Yahweh of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour forth for you an overflowing blessing.^{o 11}I will rebuke the devourer^p for you; it will not destroy the fruit of your soil; your vine in the field will not be unfruitful,” says Yahweh of hosts. ¹²“And all the nations will call you blessed, because you will be a land in which one takes joy,”^q says Yahweh of hosts. ¹³“Your words have been harsh^r against me,” says Yahweh. “But you say, ‘How have we spoken together against you?’ ¹⁴You have said, ‘It is useless^s to serve God! What is the gain if we keep^t his requirements, and if we walk as mourners before^u Yahweh of hosts? ¹⁵And now we are calling the arrogant blessed! Not only do those who do wickedness prosper; they also test God and they escape!’ ”

A Book of Remembrance is Written

¹⁶Then those who revered^v Yahweh spoke with one another.^w And Yahweh listened attentively^x and heard, and a scroll of remembrance was written before him^y of those who revere^z Yahweh and ponder his name. ¹⁷“They will be mine,” says Yahweh of hosts, “on the day that I am acting, my treasured possession. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. ¹⁸You will return and see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.

4^a “For look! The day is about to come, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and every evildoer^b will be stubble. The coming day will consume^c them,” says Yahweh of hosts. “It will not leave behind for them root or branch. ²But for you who revere^d my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like fattened calves.^{e 3}You will trample down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am going to act,” says Yahweh of hosts.

⁴“Remember the instruction^f of my servant Moses, which I commanded him at Horeb to all Israel, the rules and regulations. ⁵Look! I am going to send to you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh! ⁶And he will bring back^g the hearts of the fathers to the sons, and the hearts of the sons to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with a ban.”