Malachi

1

¹ The burden of the word of Jehovah to Israel through Malachi.
² I have loved you, says Jehovah; but you say, How have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother, declares Jehovah? Yet I loved Jacob;
³ But Esau I hated, and I made his mountains a desolation, and gave his inheritance to the jackals of the wilderness.
⁴ Though Edom says, We are beaten down, but we will return and build up the waste places; thus says Jehovah of hosts, They will build up, but I will throw down; and they will be called the territory of wickedness and the people with whom Jehovah is indignant forever.
⁵ And your eyes will see it, and you yourselves will say, Jehovah is magnified over the territory of Israel.
⁶ A son honors his father, and a servant his lord. Therefore if I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am the Lord, where is My fear? says Jehovah of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, How have we despised Your name?
⁷ You offer defiled food upon My altar. And you say, How have we defiled You? In that you say, The table of Jehovah is despicable.
⁸ And when you offer what is blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer what is lame and sick, is it not evil? Present it, if you will, to your governor. Will he be pleased with you or accept your person? says Jehovah of hosts.
⁹ And now, if you will, entreat the favor of God, that He may be gracious to us. This is what is from your hand. Will He accept any of your persons? says Jehovah of hosts.
¹⁰ Oh, that there were even someone among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain! I have no delight in you, says Jehovah of hosts; and I am not pleased with the sacrifice from your hand.
¹¹ For from the rising of the sun even unto its setting My name will be great among the nations. And in every place incense will be offered to My name as well as a pure sacrifice, for My name will be great among the nations, says Jehovah of hosts.
¹² But you profane it by saying, The table of the Lord is defiled, and the produce on it, its food, is despicable.
¹³ And you say, Ah, how tiresome it is! and sniff at it in contempt, says Jehovah of hosts. Then you bring what has been stolen and what is lame and what is sick, and you offer it as a sacrifice. Should I be pleased with what comes from your hand? says Jehovah.
¹⁴ Rather, cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and when he makes a vow, he offers what is blemished to the Lord; for I am a great King, says Jehovah of hosts, and My name is feared among the nations.

2

¹ And now this commandment is for you, O priests.
² If you will not hear and take it to heart to give glory to My name, says Jehovah of hosts, I will send the curse among you, and I will curse your blessings; indeed I have cursed them already because you have not taken it to heart.
³ I will rebuke your seed and spread dung upon your faces, the dung of your feasts; and they will take you away with it.
⁴ And you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may remain with Levi, says Jehovah of hosts.
⁵ My covenant was with him as life and peace; and I gave these to him that he might fear; and he did fear Me, and he did stand in awe of My name.
⁶ The law of truth was in his mouth, and no wrong was found in his lips; in peace and uprightness he walked with Me, and he turned many away from iniquity.
⁷ For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts.
⁸ But you have turned away from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says Jehovah of hosts.
⁹ Therefore I also have made you despicable and base before all the people to the same extent that you have not kept My ways but have been respecters of persons in the law.
¹⁰ Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why are we treacherous, each one to his brother, thus profaning the covenant of our fathers?
¹¹ Judah has been treacherous, and an abomination has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of Jehovah, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
¹² As regards the man who does this, Jehovah will cut off from the tents of Jacob him who wakes and him who answers and him who offers a sacrifice to Jehovah of hosts.
¹³ And this second thing you do: You cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping and sighing, so that He no longer regards the sacrifice or receives it with pleasure from your hand.
¹⁴ Yet you say, For what reason? Because Jehovah has been the witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been treacherous; yet she is your companion and your wife of covenant.
¹⁵ But did He not make them one? And the remnant of the Spirit was His. And why the one? He sought the seed of God. Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one be treacherous to the wife of his youth.
¹⁶ For I hate divorce, says Jehovah the God of Israel; and he who does it behaves in violence, says Jehovah of hosts. Take heed then to your spirit, and do not be treacherous.
¹⁷ You have wearied Jehovah with your words; but you say, How have we wearied Him? By saying, Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and He delights in them; or, Where is the God of justice?

3

¹ I am about to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me; and suddenly the Lord, whom you seek, will come to His temple. And the Angel of the covenant, whom you desire, He will come, says Jehovah of hosts.
² And who will endure the day of His coming? And who will stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
³ And He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them like gold and like silver, and they will offer to Jehovah a sacrifice in righteousness.
⁴ And the sacrifice of Judah and of Jerusalem will be pleasing to Jehovah, as in the days of old and as in the former years.
⁵ And I will draw 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 hired worker for his hire, and the widow and the orphan, and those who turn the stranger aside, and who do not fear Me, says Jehovah of hosts.
⁶ For I, Jehovah, do not change; therefore you, O sons 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 Jehovah 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 tithes and offerings.
⁹ With the curse you are cursed, yet you, even the whole nation, rob Me.
¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe to the storehouse that there may be food in My house; and prove Me, if you will, by this, says Jehovah of hosts, whether I will open to you the windows of heaven and pour out blessing for you until there is no room for it.
¹¹ And I will rebuke the devourer for your sake, and for your sake he will not destroy the fruit of the ground; and for your sake the vine will not lose its fruit in the field, says Jehovah of hosts.
¹² And all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says Jehovah of hosts.
¹³ Your words have been strongly against Me, says Jehovah; but you say, What have we spoken against You?
¹⁴ You say, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge and have walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts?
¹⁵ And now we call the arrogant blessed; not only have those who act wickedly been built up, but they also try God and escape.
¹⁶ Then those who feared Jehovah spoke to one another, each with his neighbor. And Jehovah gave heed and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared Jehovah and considered His name.
¹⁷ And they will be Mine, says Jehovah of hosts, a personal treasure, in the day that I prepare; and I will spare them, as a man spares his son who serves him.
¹⁸ And you will return and discern between him who is righteous and him who is wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him.

4

¹ For indeed the day comes, burning like a furnace, and all the proud ones and all the ones who act wickedly will be stubble; and the coming day will set them ablaze, says Jehovah of hosts, so that it will not leave them root or branch.
² But unto you who fear My name will the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings, and you will go forth and leap about like well-fed calves.
³ And you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I prepare, says Jehovah of hosts.
⁴ Remember the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, that is, the statutes and the ordinances.
⁵ I am about to send Elijah the prophet to you before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes;
⁶ And he will turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse.