Malachi 1

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

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

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

I have loved you, saith the Lord: and you have said: Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau brother to Jacob, saith the Lord, and I have loved Jacob,

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

But have hated Esau? and I have made his mountains a wilderness, and given his inheritance to the dragons of the desert.

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

But if Edom shall say: We are destroyed, but we will return and build up what hath been destroyed: thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall build up, and I will throw down: and they shall be called the borders of wickedness, and the people with whom the Lord is angry for ever.

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

And your eyes shall see, and you shall say: The Lord be magnified upon the border 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 the LORD of hosts to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?'

The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts.

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

To you, O priests, that despise my name, and have said: Wherein have we despised thy name? You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and you say: Wherein have we polluted thee? In that you say: The table of the Lord is contemptible.

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 the LORD of hosts.

If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? offer it to thy prince, if he will be pleased with it, or if he will regard thy face, saith 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 the LORD of hosts.

And now beseech ye the face of God, that he may have mercy on you, (for by your hand hath this been done, ) if by any means he will receive your faces, saith 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 the LORD of hosts, "neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

Who is there among you, that will shut the doors, and will kindle the fire on my altar gratis? I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will not receive a gift of 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 the LORD of hosts.

For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.

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

And you have profaned it in that you say: The table of the Lord is defiled: and that which is laid thereupon is contemptible with the fire that devoureth it.

13 You say also, 'Look, what a weariness it is.' and you sniff scornfully at it," says the LORD 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 the LORD of hosts.

And you have said: Behold of our labour, and you puffed it away, saith the Lord of hosts, and you brought in of rapine the lame, and the sick, and brought in an offering: shall I accept it at your hands, saith the Lord?

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

Cursed is the deceitful man that hath in his flock a male, and making a vow offereth in sacrifice that which is feeble to the Lord: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the Gentiles.