Malachi 1
1 A pronouncement: the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you ask, “How have you loved us?” Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother? says the LORD. “Yet I loved Jacob.”
3 But Esau I hated. I made his mountains desolate and gave his inheritance to the jackals of the wilderness.
4 If Edom says, “We have been shattered, but we will return and rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Armies says: “They may build, but I will tear down. They will be called the land of wickedness and the people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.”
5 Your eyes will see this, and you will say, “The LORD is great, even beyond the borders of Israel!”
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD of Armies to you priests, who despise my name. But you ask, “How have we despised your name?”
7 “You offer polluted food on my altar and ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying, ‘The LORD’s table is contemptible.’”
8 “When you bring a blind animal for sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you bring a lame or sick animal, is that not wrong? Offer it to your governor. Will he accept you or show you favor?” says the LORD of Armies.
9 “Now plead for God’s favor, so that he may have compassion on us. This has come from your own hands; will he show favor to any of you?” says the LORD of Armies.
10 “Who among you will shut the doors, so that you will not light my altar in vain? I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Armies, “and I will not accept a grain offering from your hands.”
11 “For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the nations. In every place incense is burned and a pure grain offering is presented to my name, because my name is great among the nations,” says the LORD of Armies.
12 “But you profane it when you say, ‘The Lord’s table is polluted, and its food is contemptible.’”
13 “And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and treat it with contempt,” says the LORD of Armies. “You bring what has been stolen, the lame and the sick; you bring these as a grain offering. Should I accept it from your hands?” says the LORD.
14 “Cursed is the deceiver who has a male animal in his flock, makes a vow, and then sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the LORD of Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations.”
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