⁵ “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted^(A) and mourned in the fifth and seventh^(B) months for the past seventy years,^(C) was it really for me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?^(D)

³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”^(A)

⁸ “Will a mere mortal rob^(A) God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes^(B) and offerings.

¹³ And you say, ‘What a burden!’^(A) and you sniff at it contemptuously,^(B)” says the Lord Almighty.

“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices,^(C) should I accept them from your hands?”^(D) says the Lord. ¹⁴ “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal^(E) to the Lord. For I am a great king,^(F)” says the Lord Almighty,^(G) “and my name is to be feared^(H) among the nations.^(I)

Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices

⁶ “A son honors his father,^(A) and a slave his master.^(B) If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect^(C) due me?” says the Lord Almighty.^(D)

“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.

“But you ask,^(E) ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’

⁷ “By offering defiled food^(F) on my altar.

“But you ask,^(G) ‘How have we defiled you?’

“By saying that the Lord’s table^(H) is contemptible. ⁸ When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals,^(I) is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased^(J) with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.^(K)

²² For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands^(A) about burnt offerings and sacrifices,^(B)