The burden
of the word
of the LORD
to Israel
by Malachi.
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,
And I
hated Esau,
and laid
his mountains
and his heritage waste
for the dragons
of the wilderness.
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.
And your eyes
shall see,
and ye
shall say,
The LORD
will be magnified
from the border
of Israel.
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?
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.
And
if ye
offer
the blind
for sacrifice,
is it not evil?
and
if ye
offer the 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.
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.
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 accept
an offering
at your hand.
For from the rising
of the sun
even unto the going down
of the same my name
shall be great
among the Gentiles;
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.
But
ye have profaned it,
in that
ye say,
The table
of the LORD
is polluted;
and the fruit
thereof,
even his meat,
is contemptible.
Ye said also,
Behold,
what a weariness
is it!
and
ye have snuffed at it,
saith the LORD
of hosts;
and ye
brought
that which
was torn,
and the lame,
and the sick;
thus
ye brought
an offering:
should
I accept this
of your hand?
saith the LORD.
But cursed
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 dreadful
among the heathen.
And now,
O ye priests,
this commandment
is for you.
If ye
will not hear,
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 curse
upon you,
and
I will curse
your blessings:
yea,
I have cursed them already,
because
ye do not lay it
to heart.
Behold,
I will corrupt
your seed,
and spread dung
upon your faces,
even the dung
of your solemn feasts;
and one
shall take you
away with it.
And
ye shall know that
I have sent
this commandment
unto you,
that my covenant
might be
with Levi,
saith the LORD
of hosts.
My covenant
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.
The law
of truth
was in his mouth,
and iniquity
was not found
in his lips:
he walked with me
in peace
and equity,
and did turn many
away from iniquity.
For the priest's lips
should keep
knowledge,
and
they should seek
the law
at his mouth:
for he is
the messenger
of the LORD
of hosts.
But
ye are departed
out of the way;
ye have caused many
to stumble
at the law;
ye have corrupted
the covenant
of Levi,
saith the LORD
of hosts.
Therefore have
I also made
you contemptible
and base
before all the people,
according as ye
have not kept
my ways,
but have been partial
in the law.
Have
we not all one father?
hath not
one God created us?
why do
we deal treacherously every man
against his brother,
by profaning
the covenant
of our fathers?
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 married
the daughter
of a strange god.
The LORD
will cut 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.
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.
Yet ye say,
Wherefore?
Because
the LORD
hath been
witness
between thee
and the wife
of thy youth,
against whom
thou hast dealt treacherously:
yet is
she thy companion,
and the wife
of thy covenant.
And did not
he make one?
Yet had
he the residue
of the spirit.
And wherefore one?
That he
might seek
a godly seed.
Therefore take
heed
to your spirit,
and let none
deal treacherously
against the wife
of his youth.
For the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
saith that
he hateth
putting away:
for one
covereth violence
with his garment,
saith the LORD
of hosts:
therefore take
heed
to your spirit,
that ye
deal
not treacherously.
Ye have wearied
the LORD
with your words.
Yet ye say,
Wherein
have
we wearied him?
When ye say,
Every one that
doeth
evil is good
in the sight
of the LORD,
and
he delighteth in them;
or,
Where is the God
of judgment?
Behold,
I will send
my messenger,
and
he shall prepare
the way
before me:
and the LORD,
whom
ye seek,
shall suddenly come
to his temple,
even the messenger
of the covenant,
whom
ye delight in:
behold,
he shall come,
saith the LORD
of hosts.
But who
may abide
the day
of his coming?
and
who shall stand
when
he appeareth?
for he
is like
a refiner's fire,
and like fullers' soap:
And he
shall sit
as a refiner
and purifier
of silver:
and
he shall purify
the sons
of Levi,
and purge them
as gold
and silver,
that they
may offer
unto the LORD
an offering
in righteousness.
Then shall
the offering
of Judah
and Jerusalem
be pleasant
unto the LORD,
as in the days of old,
and
as in former years.
And
I will come near
to you
to judgment;
and I
will be
a swift witness
against the sorcerers,
and
against the adulterers,
and
against false swearers,
and against those
that oppress
the hireling
in his wages,
the widow,
and the fatherless,
and that turn
aside the stranger
from his right,
and fear not me,
saith the LORD
of hosts.
For I
am the LORD,
I change not;
therefore ye sons
of Jacob
are not consumed.
Even from
the days
of your fathers
ye are gone away
from mine ordinances,
and have not kept them.
Return unto me,
and
I will return
unto you,
saith the LORD
of hosts.
But ye said,
Wherein
shall we return?
Will a man
rob God?
Yet
ye have robbed me.
But ye say,
Wherein
have
we robbed thee?
In tithes
and offerings.
Ye are cursed
with a curse:
for ye
have robbed me,
even this whole nation.
Bring
ye all
the tithes
into the storehouse,
that there may be
meat in mine house,
and prove me
now herewith,
saith the LORD
of hosts,
if I
will not open
you the windows
of heaven,
and pour you
out a blessing,
that there shall not be
room enough
to receive it.
And I
will rebuke
the devourer
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.
And all nations
shall call
you blessed:
for ye
shall be
a delightsome land,
saith the LORD
of hosts.
Your words
have been stout
against me,
saith the LORD.
Yet ye say,
What
have
we spoken so much
against thee?
Ye have said,
It is vain
to serve God:
and
what profit
is it that
we have kept
his ordinance,
and that
we have walked mournfully
before the LORD
of hosts?
And now
we call
the proud happy;
yea,
they that work wickedness
are set up;
yea,
they that
tempt God
are even delivered.
Then they
that
feared
the LORD
spake often one
to another:
and the LORD hearkened,
and heard it,
and
a book
of remembrance
was written
before him
for them that
feared the LORD,
and that
thought
upon his name.
And
they shall be mine,
saith the LORD
of hosts,
in that day
when
I make up
my jewels;
and
I will spare them,
as a man
spareth
his own son
that serveth him.
Then shall
ye return,
and discern
between the righteous
and the wicked,
between him that
serveth God
and him
that serveth him not.
For,
behold,
the day cometh,
that shall burn
as an oven;
and all
the proud,
yea,
and all that
do wickedly,
shall be stubble:
and the day
that cometh
shall burn them up,
saith the LORD
of hosts,
that it
shall leave them neither root
nor branch.
But unto you
that fear my name
shall the Sun
of righteousness
arise
with healing
in his wings;
and
ye shall go forth,
and grow up
as calves
of the stall.
And
ye shall tread
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.
Remember
ye the law
of Moses my servant,
which I
commanded
unto him in Horeb
for all Israel,
with the statutes
and judgments.
Behold,
I will send
you Elijah
the prophet
before the coming
of the great
and dreadful day
of the LORD:
And he
shall turn
the heart
of the fathers
to the children,
and the heart
of the children
to their fathers,
lest
I come
and smite
the earth
with a curse.