Malachi
1:1An oracle: the word of Yahweh to Israel
by Malachi.
1:2"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; 1:3but Esau I hated, and made his mountains
a desolation, and gave his heritage to the
jackals of the wilderness." 1:4Whereas Edom says, "We are beaten
down, but we will return and build the waste
places;" thus says Yahweh of Hosts,
"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."
1:5Your eyes will see, and you will say,
"Yahweh is great--even beyond the border
of Israel!"
1:6"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 Hosts
to you, priests, who despise my name. You
say, 'How have we despised your name?' 1:7You offer polluted bread on my altar.
You say, 'How have we polluted you?' In
that you say, 'Yahweh's table contemptible.'
1:8When 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 Hosts.
1:9"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 Hosts.
1:10"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
hosts, "neither will I accept an offering
at your hand. 1:11For from the rising of the sun even to
the going down of the same, 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 Hosts. 1:12"But you profane it, in that you
say, 'Yahweh's table is polluted, and its
fruit, even its food, is contemptible.'
1:13You say also, 'Behold, what a weariness
it is!' and you have sniffed at it,"
says Yahweh of Hosts; "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.
1:14"But the deceiver is cursed, who
has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices
to the Lord a blemished thing; for I am
a great King," says Yahweh of hosts,
"and my name is awesome among the nations."
2:1"Now, you priests, this commandment
is for you. 2:2If you will not listen, and if you will
not lay it to heart, to give glory to my
name," says Yahweh of Hosts, "then
will I send the curse on you, and I will
curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed
them already, because you do not lay it
to heart. 2:3Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will
spread dung on your faces, even the dung
of your feasts; and you will be taken away
with it. 2:4You will know that I have sent this commandment
to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,"
says Yahweh of Hosts. 2:5"My covenant was with him of life
and peace; and I gave them to him who he
might be reverent toward me; and he was
reverent toward me, and stood in awe of
my name. 2:6The law of truth was in his mouth, and
unrighteousness was not found in his lips.
He walked with me in peace and uprightness,
and turned many away from iniquity. 2:7For the priest's
lips should keep knowledge, and they should
seek the law at his mouth; for he is the
messenger of Yahweh of Hosts. 2:8But you have turned
aside out of the way. You have caused many
to stumble in the law. You have corrupted
the covenant of Levi," says Yahweh
of Hosts. 2:9"Therefore I have also made you contemptible
and base before all the people, according
to the way you have not kept my ways, but
have had respect for persons in the law.
2:10Don't we all have one father? Hasn't
one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously
every man against his brother, profaning
the covenant of our fathers? 2:11Judah has dealt
treacherously, and an abomination is committed
in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has
profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he
loves, and has married the daughter of a
foreign god. 2:12Yahweh will cut
off, to the man who does this, him who wakes
and him who answers, out of the tents of
Jacob, and him who offers an offering to
Yahweh of Hosts. 2:13This again you do: you cover the altar
of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and
with sighing, because he doesn't regard
the offering any more, neither receives
it with good will at your hand. 2:14Yet you say, 'Why?' Because Yahweh has
been witness between you and the wife of
your youth, against whom you have dealt
treacherously, though she is your companion,
and the wife of your covenant. 2:15Did he not make one, although he had
the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought
a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your
spirit, and let none deal treacherously
against the wife of his youth. 2:16For I hate divorce," says Yahweh,
the God of Israel, "and him who covers
his garment with violence!' says Yahweh
of Hosts. "Therefore take heed to your
spirit, that you don't deal treacherously.
2:17You have wearied
Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, 'How
have we wearied him?' In that you say, 'Everyone
who does evil is good in the sight of Yahweh,
and he delights in them;' or 'Where is the
God of justice?'
3:1"Behold, I send my messenger, and
he will prepare the way before me; and the
Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come
to his temple; and the messenger of the
covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!"
says Yahweh of hosts. 3:2"But who can
endure the day of his coming? And who will
stand when he appears? For he is like a
refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap;
3:3and he will sit as a refiner and purifier
of silver, and he will purify the sons of
Levi, and refine them as gold and silver;
and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings
in righteousness. 3:4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days
of old, and as in ancient years. 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and
I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers,
and against the adulterers, and against
the perjurers, and against those who oppress
the hireling in his wages, the widow, and
the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner
of justice, and don't fear me," says
Yahweh of Hosts. 3:6"For I, Yahweh, don't change; therefore
you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed. 3:7From the days of
your fathers you have turned aside from
my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return
to me, and I will return to you," says
Yahweh of Hosts. "But you say, 'How
shall we return?' 3:8Will a man rob God?
Yet you rob me! But you say, 'How have we
robbed you?' In tithes and offerings. 3:9You are cursed with the curse; for you
rob me, even this whole nation. 3:10Bring the whole
tithe into the store-house, that there may
be food in my house, and test me now in
this," says Yahweh 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 for. 3:11I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
and he shall not destroy the fruits of your
ground; neither shall your vine cast its
fruit before its time in the field,"
says Yahweh of Hosts. 3:12"All nations shall call you blessed,
for you will be a delightful land,"
says Yahweh of Hosts.
3:13"Your words have been stout against
me," says Yahweh. "Yet you say,
'What have we spoken against you?' 3:14You have said, 'It is vain to serve God;'
and 'What profit is it that we have kept
his charge, and that we have walked mournfully
before Yahweh of Hosts? 3:15Now we call the
proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness
are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.'
3:16Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one
with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard,
and a book of memory was written before
him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who
honored his name. 3:17They shall be mine," says Yahweh
of Hosts, "my own possession in the
day that I make, and I will spare them,
as a man spares his own son who serves him.
3:18Then you shall return and discern between
the righteous and the wicked, between him
who serves God and him who doesn't serve
him.
4:1"For, behold, the day comes, it burns
as a furnace; and all the proud, and all
who work wickedness, will be stubble; and
the day that comes will burn them up,"
says Yahweh of Hosts, "that it shall
leave them neither root nor branch. 4:2But to you who fear my name shall the
sun of righteousness arise with healing
in its wings. You will go out, and leap
like calves of the stall. 4:3You shall tread
down the wicked; for they will be ashes
under the soles of your feet in the day
that I make," says Yahweh of Hosts.
4:4"Remember the law of Moses my servant,
which I commanded to him in Horeb for all
Israel, even statutes and ordinances. 4:5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the great and terrible day of Yahweh
comes. 4:6He will turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children, and the hearts of the children
to their fathers, lest I come and strike
the earth with a curse."
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