1 1 The prophecy of the word of Jehovah, concerning Israel, by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith Jehovah. But ye say, “Wherein hast thou loved us?” Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith Jehovah? Yet I loved Jacob, 3 And Esau I hated; And I made his mountains a desolation, And his inheritance to be habitations of the desert. 4 Although Edom say, “We are ruined, Yet will we build again the desolate places.” Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: They may build, but I will throw down; And men shall call them “The impious land, The people against whom Jehovah hath indignation forever.” 5 And your eyes shall see it, and ye shall say, “Great is Jehovah beyond the borders of Israel!” 6 A son honoreth his father, And a servant his master; If I, then, be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear? Saith Jehovah of hosts to you, ye priests that despise my name. Ye say, “Wherein do we despise thy name?” 7 Ye bring polluted food to mine altar. And ye say, “Wherein do we pollute thee?” In that ye say, “The table of Jehovah is contemptible.” 8 (1:7A) For when ye bring the blind for sacrifice, [[ye say,]] “It is not evil.” (1:8) And when ye offer the lame and the sick, [[Ye say,]] “It is not evil.” Offer it, then, to thy governor; Will he be pleased with thee, Or have regard to thee? Saith Jehovah of hosts. 9 And now, I pray you, beseech God to be gracious unto us! Since such things are done by you, Will he have regard to you, Saith Jehovah of hosts? 10 O that some one of you would close the doors, That ye might not kindle the fire upon mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith Jehovah of hosts, Neither will I accept an offering at your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same My name shall be great among the nations. And in every place shall incense be offered to my name, And a pure offering; For my name shall be great among the nations, Saith Jehovah of hosts. 12 But ye profane it, In that ye say, “The table of Jehovah is polluted, And what is offered thereon, even its food, is contemptible.” 13 Ye say also, “Behold, what weariness!” And ye snuff at it, Saith Jehovah of hosts; And ye bring that which is plundered, and lame, and sick, And present it for an offering; Shall I accept it at your hand? Saith Jehovah. 14 Cursed be the deceiver, Who hath in his flock a male, And yet voweth and sacrificeth to Jehovah that which is marred; For I am a great king, saith Jehovah of hosts; And my name is terrible among the nations.
2 1 And now to you, O ye priests, is this commandment: 2 If ye will not hearken, If ye will not lay it to heart, To give glory to my name, saith Jehovah of hosts, I will 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. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your seed, And I will scatter dung in your faces, The dung of your solemn feasts, And ye shall be carried to it. 4 And ye shall know that I have sent to you this commandment, That my covenant may remain with Levi, Saith Jehovah of hosts. 5 My covenant was with him for life and peace, Which I gave to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, And was afraid before my name. 6 The law of truth was in his mouth, And unrighteousness was not found in his lips; He walked with me in truth and equity, And turned many away from iniquity. 7 For the lips of the priest should keep knowledge, And men should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts. 8 But ye have departed from the way, Ye have caused many to stumble at the law, And ye have made void the covenant with Levi, Saith Jehovah of hosts. 9 Therefore will I also make you Despicable and base before all the people; According as ye have not kept my ways. But have had respect to persons in the law. 10 Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? Why should we deal treacherously one against another, And profane the covenant made with our fathers? 11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, And an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah hath profaned the holy people of Jehovah, which he loveth, And hath married the daughter of a strange god. 12 Jehovah will cut off the man that doeth this, Him that waketh and him that answereth, from the tents of Jacob, And him that bringeth an offering to Jehovah of hosts. 13 And this also ye do: Ye cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, With weeping and with groans, So that he no more hath regard to the offering, Nor receiveth it with good-will from your hand. 14 Yet ye say, “Wherefore?” It is because Jehovah has been a witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, Against whom thou hast dealt unfaithfully, Although she was thy companion and thy covenanted wife. 15 But did not He make one only? And yet had he a residue of the spirit; And wherefore one? He sought a godly race. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And be not unfaithful to the wife of thy youth! 16 For I hate him that putteth away, Saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, And him that covereth his garment with violence, Saith Jehovah of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and be not unfaithful. 17 Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words; Yet ye say, “Wherein have we wearied him?” In that ye say, “Every one of them that do evil Is good in the sight of Jehovah, And in them he hath delight”; Or, “Where is the God of judgment?”
3 1 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; And the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire, Behold, he shall come, saith Jehovah of hosts. 2 But who shall abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he shall be like the fire of the refiner, And like the soap of the fuller. 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, And he shall purify the sons of Levi, And shall refine them as gold and silver, That, being holy to Jehovah, they may bring an offering in righteousness. 4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasing to Jehovah, As in the days of old, And as in former years. 5 And I will come near to you to judgment; And I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, and against adulterers, and against false swearers, And against those who defraud the hireling of his hire, And oppress the widow and the fatherless, And turn aside the stranger from his right, And fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts. 6 For I am Jehovah; I change not; Therefore, ye sons of Jacob, are ye not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers have ye turned aside from my statutes, And have not kept them; Return to me, and I will return to you, Saith Jehovah of hosts. But ye say, “Wherein shall we return?” 8 Shall a man rob God, That ye have robbed me? But ye say, “Wherein have we robbed thee?” In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse, For ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, That there be food in my house; And try me now in this, Saith Jehovah of hosts, Whether I will not open to you the windows of heaven, And pour out upon you a blessing, until there is none left. 11 And I will rebuke for you the devourer, And he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, Nor shall your vine be barren in the field, Saith Jehovah of hosts. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed; For ye shall be a delightful land, Saith Jehovah of hosts. 13 Your words have been bold against me, saith Jehovah; Yet ye say, “What have we spoken against thee?” 14 Ye have said, “It is a vain thing to serve God”; And, “What profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, And that we have walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts? 15 Therefore we call the proud happy; Yea, they that do wickedness are built up; Yea, they tempt God, and are delivered.” 16 Then they that feared Jehovah spake to one another, And Jehovah gave ear and heard; And a book of remembrance was written before him, For them that feared Jehovah, And that thought upon his name. 17 And they shall be to me, saith Jehovah of hosts, In the day which I appoint, as my own possession; And I will spare them, As a father spareth his own son that serveth him. 18 Then shall ye return and see What is the difference between the righteous and the wicked, Between him who serveth God And him who serveth him not.
4 1 For, behold, the day cometh, which shall burn as an oven; Then shall all the proud, And all that do wickedness, be stubble; And the day that cometh shall burn them up, Saith Jehovah of hosts; It shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you that fear my name Shall the sun of salvation arise With healing under his wings. And ye shall go forth and leap for joy, Like calves of the stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; For they shall be as dust under the soles of your feet In the day which I appoint, saith Jehovah of hosts. 4 Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, My statutes and precepts! 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, Before the day of Jehovah come, The great and terrible day. 6 He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, And the heart of the children to their fathers, That I may not come And smite the land with a curse.