1 THE burden of the aword
of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
2 I have aloved
you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I bloved
Jacob,
3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his aheritage
bwaste
for the cdragons
of the wilderness.
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.
5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.
6 ¶ A son ahonoureth
his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine bhonour
? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD
is contemptible.
8 And if ye offer the ablind
for bsacrifice
, is it not evil? and if ye offer cthe
lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.
9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.
10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I aaccept
an offering at your hand.
11 For from the arising
of the sun even unto the going down of the same my bname
shall be great among the cGentiles
; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.
12 ¶ But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The atable
of the LORD
is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.
13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have asnuffed
at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the blame
, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I caccept
this of your hand? saith the LORD.
14 But acursed
be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is
bdreadful
among the heathen.
1 AND now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If ye will not ahear
, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a bcurse
upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
3 Behold, I will acorrupt
your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my acovenant
might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
5 My acovenant
was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
6 The law of atruth
was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did bturn
many away from ciniquity
.
7 For the priest’s lips should keep aknowledge
, and they should seek the blaw
at his mouth: for he is the cmessenger
of the LORD of hosts.
8 But ye are adeparted
out of the way; ye have caused many to bstumble
at the law; ye have ccorrupted
the dcovenant
of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
9 Therefore have I also made you acontemptible
and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
10 Have we not all one afather
? hath not one God bcreated
us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by cprofaning
the covenant of our fathers?
11 ¶ Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath amarried
the daughter of a bstrange
god.
12 The LORD will acut
off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
14 ¶ Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the awife
of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
15 And did not he make aone
? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a bgodly
cseed
. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the dwife
of his youth.
16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth aputting
away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
17 ¶ Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth aevil
is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of bjudgment
?
1 BEHOLD, I will asend
my bmessenger
, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly ccome
to his dtemple
, even the emessenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
2 But who may aabide
the bday
of his ccoming
? and who shall dstand
when he appeareth? for he is like a erefiner
’s ffire
, and like fullers’ gsoap
:
3 And he shall sit as a arefiner
and purifer of silver: and he shall bpurify
the csons
of dLevi
, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an eoffering
in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of aJudah
and Jerusalem be bpleasant
unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to ajudgment
; and I will be a swift witness against the bsorcerers
, and against the cadulterers
, and against dfalse
swearers, and against those that eoppress
the hireling in his
fwages
, the gwidow
, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the hstranger
from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
6 For I am the LORD, I achange
not; therefore ye sons of bJacob
are not cconsumed
.
7 ¶ Even from the days of your afathers
ye are gone away from mine bordinances
, and have not kept them.
cReturn
unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 ¶ aWill
a man brob
God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In ctithes
and offerings.
9 Ye are
acursed
with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the atithes
into the storehouse, that there may be bmeat
in mine house, and cprove
me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not dopen
you the ewindows
of heaven, and pour you out a fblessing
, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will arebuke
the bdevourer
for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
13 ¶ Your words have been astout
against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
14 Ye have said, It is
avain
to serve God: and what bprofit
is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15 And now we call the aproud
happy; yea, they that work bwickedness
are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 ¶ Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a abook
of bremembrance
was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be amine
, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my bjewels
; and I will cspare
them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18 Then shall ye return, and adiscern
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
1 aFOR
, behold, the bday
cometh, that shall cburn
as an oven; and all the dproud
, yea, and all that do ewickedly
, shall be fstubble
: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor gbranch
.
2 ¶ But unto you that fear my name shall the aSun
of righteousness barise
with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the cstall
.
3 And ye shall atread
down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
4 ¶ Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I acommanded
unto him in bHoreb
for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
5 ¶ Behold, I will asend
you bElijah
the prophet cbefore
the coming of the dgreat
and dreadful eday
of the LORD:
6 And he shall aturn
the bheart
of the cfathers
to the dchildren
, and the heart of the echildren
to their fathers, lest I come and fsmite
the gearth
with a hcurse
.