The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Malachi 1
1 A revelation, Yahweh’s† word to Israel
by Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says Yahweh.
Yet you say, “How have you loved us?”
“Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” says
Yahweh, “Yet I loved Jacob;
3 but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a
desolation, and gave his heritage to
the jackals of the wilderness.”
4 Whereas Edom says, “We are beaten
down, but we will return and build the
waste places,” Yahweh of Armies says,
“They shall build, but I will throw down;
and men will call them ‘The Wicked Land,’
even the people against whom Yahweh
shows wrath forever.”
5 Your eyes will see, and you will say,
“Yahweh is great—even beyond the border
of Israel!”
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant
his master. If I am a father, then where is
my honor? And if I am a master, where
is the respect due me?” says Yahweh
of Armies to you priests who despise my
name. “You say, ‘How have we despised
your name?’
7 You offer polluted bread on my altar.
You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’
In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’
8 When you offer the blind for sacrifice,
isn’t that evil? And when you offer the
lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it
now to your governor! Will he be pleased
with you? Or will he accept your person?”
says Yahweh of Armies.
9 “Now, please entreat the favor of God,‡
that he may be gracious to us. With this,
will he accept any of you?” says Yahweh of
Armies.
10 “Oh that there were one among you
who would shut the doors, that you might
not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I
have no pleasure in you,” says Yahweh of
Armies, “neither willI accept anoffering at
your hand.
11 For from the rising of the sun even to
its going down, my name is great among
the nations, and in every place incense
will be offered to my name, and a pure
offering; for my name is great among the
nations,” says Yahweh of Armies.
12 “But you profane it when you say,
‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit,
even its food, is contemptible.’
13 You say also, ‘Behold,§ what a weariness
it is!’ And you have sniffed at it”,
says Yahweh of Armies; “and you have
brought that which was taken by violence,
the lame, and the sick; thus you bring
the offering. Should I accept this at your
hand?” says Yahweh.
14 “But the deceiver is cursed who has in
his flock a male, and vows and sacrifices
to the Lord† a defective thing; for I am a
great King,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and
my name is awesome among the nations.”