Malachi chapter 1
Jehovah's love for Jacob
1 The oracle of the word of the Lord against Israel by Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,
3 but I have hated Esau. I have made his mountains a desolation and left his inheritance to the jackals of the desert.
4 When Edom says, ‘We are impoverished, but we will rebuild the ruins,’ this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘They may build, but I will tear down. They will be called the land of wickedness, a people against whom the Lord is forever angry.
’ 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘The Lord’s greatness extends beyond the borders of Israel!’”
Jehovah rebukes the priests
6 A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then 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, “How have we despised your name?”
7 By offering defiled food on my altar. And you say, “How have we defiled you?” By thinking that the table of the Lord is contemptible.
8 And when you offer a blind animal in sacrifice, is that not wrong? Likewise, when you offer a lame or sick animal, is that not wrong? Try presenting it to your governor; will he be pleased with you, or will he accept you? says the Lord of hosts.
9 Now therefore, pray for God’s favor, that he may be gracious to us. But how can you please him, when you do these things? says the Lord of hosts.
10 Who among you will shut the doors or light my altar for nothing? I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord Almighty, nor will I accept an offering from your hand.
11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense and a pure offering will be brought to my name, for my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
12 And you have profaned it when you say, “The table of the Lord is defiled,” and when you say that its food is contemptible.
13 You have also said, “What a weariness this is!” and you despise me, says the Lord of hosts. And you bring what was stolen, or lame, or sick, and you present it as an offering. Will I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.
14 Cursed is the deceitful one, who, having males in his flock, vows, and sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is feared among the nations.
Malachi chapter 2
Rebuke of Israel's infidelity
1 Now then, O priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken it to heart.
3 Behold, I will ruin your seed, and I will throw dung upon your faces, the dung of your sacrifices, and you shall be thrown away with it.
4 And you shall know that I sent you this commandment, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts.
5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him so that he might fear me; and he feared me and stood in awe of my name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and no iniquity was found on his lips; He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from iniquity.
7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.
8 But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble in the law; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord Almighty.
9 Therefore I have also made you vile and debased in the sight of all the people, because you have not kept my ways, but have shown partiality in the law.
10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?
11 Judah has been unfaithful, and an 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 The Lord will cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, the one who watches and answers, and the one who offers an offering to the Lord of hosts.
13 And this is another thing you do: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying out, so that I no longer regard the offering or accept it with favor from your hand.
14 But you say, “Why?” Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
15 Did he not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. Therefore, be careful in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 For the Lord, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and a man who covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. Therefore, be careful in your spirit, and do not break faith.
Judgment Day is approaching
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “The Lord is pleased with all who do evil, and he delights in them.” Or, “Where is the God of justice?”
Malachi Chapter 3
1 “ See, I am sending my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire or fullers’ soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver, and they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.
4 Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in days of old and as in former years.
5 “I will come to you for judgment; And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers, against those who swear falsely, and against those who defraud the hired worker of his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who do injustice to the foreigner, not fearing me, says the Lord of hosts.
The payment of tithes
6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
7 From the days of your fathers 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 a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse, for you, the whole nation, have robbed me.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”
11 I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, nor shall your vine in the field fail to bear fruit, says the Lord of hosts.
12 And all nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land, says the Lord of hosts.
Difference between the righteous and the wicked
13 Your words against me have been harsh, declares the Lord. Yet you ask, “What have we said against you?”
14 You have said, “It is futile to serve God. What good is it to keep his commands and go about mourning before the Lord Almighty?”
15 “ Now we say, ‘Blessed are the arrogant! Not only do evildoers prosper, but even when they test God, they get away with it.’”
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the Lord and who meditated on his name.
17 “They will be my treasured possession,” says the Lord Almighty, “on the day when I act. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion on his son who serves him.”
18 Then you will again discern the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
Malachi Chapter 4
The coming of the day of Jehovah
1 For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that is coming will set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.
3 You will trample the wicked underfoot; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.
4 Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him at Horeb with statutes and ordinances for all Israel.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse.
