Malachi 1

1 An oracle: the word of Jehovah to Israel by Malachi.

The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of Malachi.

2 "I have loved you," says Jehovah. Yet you say, "How have you loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" says Jehovah, "Yet I loved Jacob;

I have loved you, says the Lord, and you have said, “In what way have you loved us?” Was not Esau brother to Jacob, says the Lord? And have I not loved Jacob,

3 but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness."

but held hatred for Esau? And I have set his mountains in solitude, and his inheritance with the serpents of the desert.

4 Whereas Edom says, "We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;" thus says Jehovah of hosts, "They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them 'The Wicked Land,' even the people against whom Jehovah shows wrath forever."

But if Idumea will say, “We have been destroyed, but when we return, we will build up what has been destroyed,” thus says the Lord of hosts: They will build up, and I will destroy. And they will be called “The limits of impiety,” and, “The people with whom the Lord has been angry, even to eternity.”

5 Your eyes will see, and you will say, "Jehovah is great—even beyond the border of Israel."

And your eyes will see. And you will say, “May the Lord be magnified beyond the limits of Israel.”

6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? says Jehovah of hosts to you, cohanim, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?'

The son honors the father, and the servant his master. If, therefore, I am Father, where is my honor? And if I am Master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. And you have said, “In what way, have we despised your name?”

7 You offer defiled bread on my altar. You say, 'How have we defiled you?' In that you say, 'Jehovah's table is despised, and its fruit, its food, is despised.'

You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and you say, “In what way, have we polluted you?” In that you say, “The table of the Lord has been despised.”

8 When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn't that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn't that evil? Present it now to your governor. Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?" says Jehovah of hosts.

If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is this not evil? And if you offer the lame and the sick, is this not evil? Offer it to your leader, if he will be pleased with it, or if he will accept your face, says the Lord of hosts.

9 "Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?" says Jehovah of hosts.

And now, beseech the face of God, so that he may have mercy on you (for by your hand has this been done) if, in any way, he might accept your faces, says the Lord of hosts.

10 "Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you," says Jehovah of hosts, "neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

Who is there among you that would close the doors and enflame my altar without pay? I have no favor in you, says the Lord of hosts. And I will not accept a gift from your hand.

11 For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations," says Jehovah of hosts.

For, from the rising of the sun even to its setting, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place, a clean oblation is being sacrificed and offered to my name. For my name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord of hosts.

12 "But you profane it, in that you say, 'Jehovah's table is defiled, and its fruit, its food, is despised.'

And you have polluted it, in that you say, “The table of the Lord has been contaminated; and that which is placed upon it is contemptible, compared with the fire that devours it.”

13 You say also, 'Look, what a weariness it is.' and you sniff scornfully at it," says Jehovah of hosts; "and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this from your hand?" says Jehovah of hosts.

And you have said, “Behold our labor,” and you have exhaled it away, says the Lord of hosts. And you brought in by plunder the lame, and the sick, and brought it in as a gift. How can I receive this from your hand, says the Lord?

14 "But the deceiver is cursed, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to Jehovah a blemished thing; for I am a great King," says Jehovah of hosts, "and my name is awesome among the nations."

Cursed is the deceitful, who holds in his flock a male, and, when making a vow, offers in sacrifice that which is feeble to the Lord. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the Gentiles.