MALACHI
1 - 2 - 3 - 4
TOC
Maps
An oracle. The word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2
I have loved you, says the LORD. But you say, "How have you loved us?" Is not
Esau Jacob's brother? says the LORD. Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but I have hated
Esau; I have made his hill country a desolation and his heritage a desert for
jackals. 4 If Edom says, "We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins," the
LORD of hosts says: They may build, but I will tear down, until they are called
the wicked country, the people with whom the LORD is angry forever. 5 Your own
eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is the LORD beyond the borders of
Israel!" 6 A son honors his father, and servants their master. If then I am a
father, where is the honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect
due me? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. You say,
"How have we despised your name?" 7 By offering polluted food on my altar. And
you say, "How have we polluted it?" By thinking that the Lord's table may be
despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not wrong? And
when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not wrong? Try presenting
that to your governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor? says the
LORD of hosts. 9 And now implore the favor of God, that he may be gracious to
us. The fault is yours. Will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of
hosts. 10 Oh, that someone among you would shut the temple doors, so that you
would not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the
LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hands. 11 For from
the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in
every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is
great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. 12 But you profane it when you
say that the Lord's table is polluted, and the food for it may be despised. 13
"What a weariness this is," you say, and you sniff at me, says the LORD of
hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this
you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD.
14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in the flock and vows to give it, and yet
sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished; for I am a great King, says the LORD
of hosts, and my name is reverenced among the nations.
Return to Top
And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not
listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says the LORD
of hosts, then I will send the curse on you and I will curse your blessings;
indeed I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 I will
rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your
offerings, and I will put you out of my presence. 4 Know, then, that I have sent
this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may hold, says the LORD of
hosts. 5 My covenant with him was a covenant of life and well-being, which I
gave him; this called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my
name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips.
He walked with me in integrity and uprightness, and he turned many from
iniquity. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should
seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. 8
But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your
instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, 9
and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you
have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in your instruction. 10 Have we
not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one
another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors? 11 Judah has been faithless,
and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has
profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter
of a foreign god. 12 May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob anyone who
does this--any to witness or answer, or to bring an offering to the LORD of
hosts. 13 And this you do as well: You cover the Lord's altar with tears, with
weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it
with favor at your hand. 14 You ask, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD was a
witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless,
though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did not one God make
her? Both flesh and spirit are his. And what does the one God desire? Godly
offspring. So look to yourselves, and do not let anyone be faithless to the wife
of his youth. 16 For I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel, and
covering one's garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So take heed to
yourselves and do not be faithless. 17 You have wearied the LORD with your
words. Yet you say, "How have we wearied him?" By saying, "All who do evil are
good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is
the God of justice?"
Return to Top
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and
the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the
covenant in whom you delight--indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For
he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine
them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in
righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to
the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. 5 Then I will draw near
to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers,
against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who
oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against
those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. 6
For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not
perished. 7 Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my
statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says
the LORD of hosts. But you say, "How shall we return?" 8 Will anyone rob God?
Yet you are robbing me! But you say, "How are we robbing you?" In your tithes
and offerings! 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me--the whole
nation of you! 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be
food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts; see if I
will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing
blessing. 11 I will rebuke the locust for you, so that it will not destroy the
produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the
LORD of hosts. 12 Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land
of delight, says the LORD of hosts. 13 You have spoken harsh words against me,
says the LORD. Yet you say, "How have we spoken against you?" 14 You have said,
"It is vain to serve God. What do we profit by keeping his command or by going
about as mourners before the LORD of hosts? 15 Now we count the arrogant happy;
evildoers not only prosper, but when they put God to the test they escape." 16
Then those who revered the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD took note and
listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered
the LORD and thought on his name. 17 They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts,
my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents
spare their children who serve them. 18 Then once more you shall see the
difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and
one who does not serve him.
Return to Top
See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the
arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them
up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with
healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And
you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your
feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts. 4 Remember the teaching of
my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for
all Israel. 5 Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and
terrible day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of parents to their
children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come
and strike the land with a curse.
BACK TO TOP
BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS