| 1:1 |
The oraclepronouncement of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.: |
| 1:2 |
“I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was Esau not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob; |
| 1:3 |
but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointedgiven his inheritance forto the jackals of the wilderness.” |
| 1:4 |
Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thusthis saysis what the Lord of hosts,armies says: “They may build, but I will tear down; and menpeople will call them the wickedterritory territoryof wickedness, and the people towardwith whom the Lord is indignant forever.” |
| 1:5 |
YourAnd your eyes will see this, and you will say, “The Lord be magnifiedexalted beyond the border of Israel!” |
| 1:6 |
“ ‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the Lord of hostsarmies to you, Othe priests who despise My name.! But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ |
| 1:8 |
ButAnd when you present thea blind animal for sacrifice, is it not evil? AndOr when you present thea lame andor sick animal, is it not evil? WhySo not offer it to your governor?! Would he be pleased with you?, Oror would he receive you kindly?” says the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 1:9 |
“But now, willdo youindeed notplead entreatfor God’s favor, so that He maywill be gracious to us?. With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” says the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 1:10 |
“OhIf thatonly there were one among you who would shut the gates, so that you mightwould not uselessly kindle fire on My altar for nothing! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of hostsarmies, “nor will I accept an offering from youyour hand. |
| 1:11 |
For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name willshall be great among the nations, and in every place incensefrankincense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name willshall be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 1:12 |
“But you are profaning it, inby thatyour you saysaying, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.’ |
| 1:13 |
You also say, ‘MySee, how tiresome it is!’ And you disdainfullyview sniffit atas ittrivial,” says the Lord of hostsarmies, “and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receiveaccept thatit from your hand?” says the Lord. |
| 1:14 |
“But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King,” says the Lord of hostsarmies, “and My name is feared among the nations.” |
| 2:1 |
“And now, this commandment is for you, Othe priests. |
| 2:2 |
If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of hostsarmies, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart. |
| 2:3 |
Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspringdescendants, and I will spread refusedung on your faces, the refusedung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it. |
| 2:4 |
Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, so that My covenant may continue with Levi,” says the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 2:5 |
“My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stoodwas in awe of My name. |
| 2:6 |
True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousnessinjustice was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightnessjustice, and he turned many back from iniquitywrongdoing. |
| 2:7 |
For the lips of a priest should preservemaintain knowledge, and menpeople should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 2:8 |
But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corruptedruined the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 2:9 |
“So I also have made you despised and abasedof beforelow reputation in the view of all the people, justsince as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction..” |
| 2:10 |
“Do we not all have one fatherFather? HasIs it not one God who has created us? Why do we deal treacherously, each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? |
| 2:11 |
Judah has dealt treacherously, 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. |
| 2:12 |
As for the man who does this, may the Lord cuteliminate off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakesis awake and answers, or who presents an offering to the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 2:13 |
“ThisAnd this is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with groaningsighing, because He no longer regardsgives attention to the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. |
| 2:14 |
Yet you say, ‘“For what reason?’?” Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your marriage companion and your wife by covenant. |
| 2:15 |
But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And whatwhy didthe that one? doHe while he was seeking a godly offspring?. TakeBe heedcareful then toabout your spirit, and letsee nothat onenone dealof you deals treacherously against the wife of your youth. |
| 2:16 |
“For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrongviolence,” says the Lord of hostsarmies. “So takebe heedcareful toabout your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.” |
| 3:1 |
“Behold, I am goingsending to send My messenger, and he will clear thea way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seekare seeking, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 3:2 |
“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 fullerslaunderer’s soap. |
| 3:3 |
And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. |
| 3:4 |
Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old, and as in former years. |
| 3:5 |
“Then I will drawcome near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, or the widow andor the orphan, and those who turn asideaway the alienstranger from justice and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 3:6 |
“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, Othe sons of Jacob, arehave not consumedcome to an end. |
| 3:7 |
“From the days of your fathers you have turned asideaway from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hostsarmies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ |
| 3:8 |
“WillWould aanyone man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. |
| 3:9 |
You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the wholeentire nation of you! |
| 3:10 |
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and testput Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of hostsarmies, “if I willdo not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. |
| 3:11 |
Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruitsfruit of theyour ground; nor will yourthe vine in the field castprove itsfruitless grapesto you,” says the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 3:12 |
“All the nations will call you blessed, for you shallwill be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 3:14 |
You have said, ‘It is vainpointless to serve God; and what profitbenefit is it for us that we have keptdone Hiswhat chargeHe required, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hostsarmies? |
| 3:15 |
So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also testput God to the test and escape punishment.’ ” |
| 3:16 |
Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gavelistened attentionattentively and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. |
| 3:17 |
“TheyAnd they will be Mine,” says the Lord of hostsarmies, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will sparehave compassion for them just as a man spareshas compassion for his own son who serves him.” |
| 4:1 |
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hostsarmies, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”branches. |
| 4:2 |
“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skipfrolic about like calves from the stall. |
| 4:3 |
YouAnd you will treadcrush down the wicked underfoot, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day whichthat I am preparing,” says the Lord of hostsarmies. |
| 4:4 |
“Remember the lawLaw of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. |
| 4:6 |
He will restoreturn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smitestrike the land with acomplete cursedestruction.” |