Old Testament · Malachi

Malachi 1

The LORD’s Love for Israel

(Genesis 25:19–28; Romans 9:6–29)

1The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by the hand of Malachi.

2I have loved you, says the LORD. And you say, "In what have you loved us?" Was not Esau a brother to Jacob? declares the LORD; yet I loved Jacob, 3and Esau I hated, and I made his mountains a desolation, and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.

4For Edom says, "We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places." Thus says the LORD of hosts^a: They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them the border of wickedness, and the people against whom the LORD has indignation forever. 5And your eyes shall see, and you shall say, "The LORD is great beyond the border of Israel."

The Polluted Offerings

6A son honors a father, and a servant his master. And if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. And you say, "In what have we despised your name?"

7You offer upon my altar polluted bread, and you say, "In what have we polluted you?" In your saying, "The table of the LORD, it is contemptible."

8And when you offer the blind to sacrifice, is there no evil? And when you offer the lame and the sick, is there no evil? Present it now to your governor; will he be pleased with you, or will he lift up your face? says the LORD of hosts.

9And now, entreat now the face of God that he may be gracious to us. This has been from your hand; will he lift up faces from any of you? says the LORD of hosts.

10Who even among you would shut the doors, that you might not kindle my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and an offering I will not accept from your hand.

11For from the rising of the sun even to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered, presented to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. 12But you profane it, in your saying, "The table of my Lord^b is polluted, and its fruit, its food, is contemptible."

13And you say, "Behold, what a weariness!" and you have snuffed at it, says the LORD of hosts; and you have brought what was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering; should I accept it from your hand? says the LORD.

14And cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices a blemished thing to my Lord; for I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is feared among the nations.