¹ The burden of the word of Jehovah to Israel by Malachi.

² I have loved you, says Jehovah. Yet ye say, How have thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, says Jehovah. Yet I loved Jacob,

³ but Esau I regarded inferior, 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, thus says Jehovah of hosts: They shall build, but I will throw down, and men shall call them the border of wickedness, and the people against whom Jehovah has indignation forever.

⁵ And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, Jehovah be magnified beyond the border of Israel.

⁶ A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says Jehovah of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. And ye say, How have we despised thy name?

⁷ Ye offer polluted bread upon my altar. And ye say, How have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of Jehovah is contemptible.

⁸ And when ye offer the blind for sacrifice, ye say, It is no evil! and when ye offer the lame and sick, It is no evil! Present it now to thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee, or will he accept thy person? says Jehovah of hosts.

⁹ Ye say, And now, I pray you, entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us; this has been by your means. Will he accept any of your persons? says Jehovah of hosts.

¹⁰ Oh that there was among you who would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says Jehovah of hosts, nor 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 is great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name is great among the Gentiles, says Jehovah of hosts.

¹² But ye profane it, in that ye say, The table of Jehovah is polluted. And the fruit of it, even its food, is contemptible.

¹³ Ye also say, Behold, what a weariness it is! And ye have sniffed at it, says Jehovah 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 at your hand? says Jehovah.

¹⁴ But cursed be the deceiver, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a blemished thing. For I am a great King, says Jehovah of hosts, and my name is feared among the Gentiles.