Malachi 1–4

1A prophecy:^a The word^b of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.^a

Israel Doubts God’s Love

²“I have loved^c you,” says the Lord.

“But you ask,^d ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,^{e 3}but Esau I have hated,^f and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland^g and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.^h”

⁴Edomⁱ may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild^j the ruins.”

But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish.^k They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.^{l 5}You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great^m is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’ⁿ

Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices

⁶“A son honors his father,^o and a slave his master.^p If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect^q due me?” says the Lord Almighty.^r

“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.

“But you ask,^s ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’

⁷“By offering defiled food^t on my altar.

“But you ask,^u ‘How have we defiled you?’

“By saying that the Lord’s table^v is contemptible. ⁸When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals,^w is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased^x with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.^y

⁹“Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings^z from your hands, will he accept^a you?”—says the Lord Almighty.

¹⁰“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors,^b so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased^c with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept^d no offering^e from your hands. ¹¹My name will be great^f among the nations,^g from where the sun rises to where it sets.^h In every place incenseⁱ and pure offerings^j will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.

¹²“But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table^k is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food^l is contemptible.’ ¹³And you say, ‘What a burden!’^m and you sniff at it contemptuously,ⁿ” says the Lord Almighty.

“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices,^o should I accept them from your hands?”^p says the Lord. ¹⁴“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal^q to the Lord. For I am a great king,^r” says the Lord Almighty,^s “and my name is to be feared^t among the nations.^u

Additional Warning to the Priests

2“And now, you priests, this warning is for you.^{v 2}If you do not listen,^w and if you do not resolve to honor^x my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse^y on you, and I will curse your blessings.^z Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.

³“Because of you I will rebuke your descendants^a; I will smear on your faces the dung^a from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.^{b 4}And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi^c may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. ⁵“My covenant was with him, a covenant^d of life and peace,^e and I gave them to him; this called for reverence^f and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. ⁶True instruction^g was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked^h with me in peaceⁱ and uprightness,^j and turned many from sin.^k

⁷“For the lips of a priest^l ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger^m of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.^{n 8}But you have turned from the way^o and by your teaching have caused many to stumble;^p you have violated the covenant^q with Levi,”^r says the Lord Almighty. ⁹“So I have caused you to be despised^s and humiliated^t before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality^u in matters of the law.”^v

Breaking Covenant Through Divorce

¹⁰Do we not all have one Father^b?^w Did not one God create us?^x Why do we profane the covenant^y of our ancestors by being unfaithful^z to one another?

¹¹Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable^a thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves^b by marrying^c women who worship a foreign god.^{d 12}As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove^e him from the tents of Jacob^cf—even though he brings an offering^g to the Lord Almighty.

¹³Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears.^h You weep and wailⁱ because he no longer looks with favor^j on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.^{k 14}You ask,^l “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness^m between you and the wife of your youth.ⁿ You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.^o

¹⁵Has not the one God made you?^p You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.^dq So be on your guard,^r and do not be unfaithful^s to the wife of your youth.

¹⁶“The man who hates and divorces his wife,^t” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”^eu says the Lord Almighty.

So be on your guard,^v and do not be unfaithful.

Breaking Covenant Through Injustice

¹⁷You have wearied^w the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.^x

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased^y with them” or “Where is the God of justice?^z”

3“I will send my messenger,^a who will prepare the way before me.^b Then suddenly the Lord^c you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,^d whom you desire,^e will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

²But who can endure^f the day of his coming?^g Who can stand^h when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fireⁱ or a launderer’s soap.^{j 3}He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;^k he will purify^l the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.^m Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,^{n 4}and the offerings^o of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.^p

⁵“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,^q adulterers^r and perjurers,^s against those who defraud laborers of their wages,^t who oppress the widows^u and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners^v among you of justice, but do not fear^w me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

⁶“I the Lord do not change.^x So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.^{y 7}Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away^z from my decrees and have not kept them. Return^a to me, and I will return to you,”^b says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask,^c ‘How are we to return?’

⁸“Will a mere mortal rob^d God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes^e and offerings. ⁹You are under a curse^f—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰Bring the whole tithe^g into the storehouse,^h that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgatesⁱ of heaven and pour out^j so much blessing^k that there will not be room enough to store it.^{l 11}I will prevent pests from devouring^m your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,ⁿ” says the Lord Almighty. ¹²“Then all the nations will call you blessed,^o for yours will be a delightful land,”^p says the Lord Almighty.^q

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

¹³“You have spoken arrogantly^r against me,” says the Lord.

“Yet you ask,^s ‘What have we said against you?’

¹⁴“You have said, ‘It is futile^t to serve^u God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements^v and going about like mourners^w before the Lord Almighty? ¹⁵But now we call the arrogant^x blessed. Certainly evildoers^y prosper,^z and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ”

The Faithful Remnant

¹⁶Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.^a A scroll^b of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared^c the Lord and honored his name.

¹⁷“On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my^d treasured possession.^e I will spare^f them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son^g who serves him. ¹⁸And you will again see the distinction between the righteous^h and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.ⁱ

Judgment and Covenant Renewal

4^a“Surely the day is coming;^j it will burn like a furnace.^k All the arrogant^l and every evildoer will be stubble,^m and the day that is coming will set them on fire,ⁿ” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch^o will be left to them. ²But for you who revere my name,^p the sun of righteousness^q will rise with healing^r in its rays. And you will go out and frolic^s like well-fed calves. ³Then you will trample^t on the wicked; they will be ashes^u under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

⁴“Remember the law^v of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb^w for all Israel.^x

⁵“See, I will send the prophet Elijah^y to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.^{z 6}He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children,^a and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike^b the land with total destruction.”^c