MALACHI 1

1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.⋮

2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: 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 saith, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down: and men 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 be magnified beyond the border of Israel.⋮

6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? 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 when ye offer the blind for sacrifice, it is no evil! and when ye offer the lame and sick, it is no evil! Present it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee? or will he accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.⋮

9 And now, I pray you, entreat the favour of God, that he may be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he accept any of your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.⋮

10 Oh that there were one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.⋮

11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the LORD of hosts.⋮

12 But ye profane it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.⋮

13 Ye say also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye have brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye bring the offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.⋮

14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a blemished thing: for I am a great king, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is terrible among the Gentiles.⋮