Malachi 1-2

Common English Bible

1 A pronouncement. The Lord’s word to Israel through Malachi.^[a]

Love of Jacob

²I have loved you, says the Lord;
        but you say, “How have you loved us?”
Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?
says the Lord.
        I loved Jacob, ³but I rejected Esau.
I turned Esau’s mountains into desolation,
        his inheritance into a wilderness for jackals.
⁴Edom may say, “We are beaten down, but we will rebuild the ruins”;
    but the Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
    They may build, but I will tear them down.
    They will call themselves a wicked territory,
            the people against whom the Lord rages forever.
⁵Your eyes will see it and you will say,
        “May the Lord be great beyond the borders of Israel.”

Honoring the Lord

⁶A son honors a father,
        and a servant honors his master.
But if I’m a father, where is my honor?
    Or if I’m a master, where is my respect?
says the Lord of heavenly forces
        to you priests who despise my name.
So you say, “How have we despised your name?”
⁷        By approaching my altar with polluted food.
But you say, “How have we polluted it^[b]?”
        When you say, “The table of the Lord can be despised.”
⁸If you bring a blind animal to sacrifice, isn’t that evil?
If you bring a lame or sick one, isn’t that evil?
Would you bring it to your governor?
Would he be pleased with it or accept you?
says the Lord of heavenly forces.

⁹So now ask God to be gracious to us.
After what you have done, will he accept you?
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
¹⁰Who among you will shut the doors of the temple^[c]
so that you don’t burn something on my altar in vain?
I take no delight in you,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
I won’t accept a grain offering from your hand.

¹¹Nevertheless, from sunrise to sunset,
        my name will be great among the nations.
Incense and a pure grain offering will be offered everywhere in my name,
        because my name is great among the nations,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
¹²But you make my name impure when you say,
    “The table of the Lord is polluted.
        Its fruit, its food, is despised.”
¹³But you say, “How tedious!”
        and you groan about it,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
You permit what is stolen, lame, or sick to be brought for a sacrifice,^[d]
        and you bring the grain offering.
Should I accept such from your hands?
says the Lord.

¹⁴I will curse the cheater who has a healthy^[e] male in his flock,
        but who promises and sacrifices to the Lord that which is corrupt.
            I am truly a great king,
says the Lord of heavenly forces,
            and my name is feared among the nations.

2 But now, this command is for you, priests:
²    If you don’t listen,
        or don’t intend to glorify my name,
says the Lord of heavenly forces,
        then I will send a curse among you.
        I will curse your blessings,
            and I mean really curse them,
            because none of you intend to do it.
³I am about to denounce your offspring;
        I will scatter feces on your faces,
        the feces of your festivals.
Then I will lift you up to me,^[f]
⁴    and you will know that I have sent this command to you
        so that my covenant with Levi can continue to exist,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
⁵My covenant with him involved life and peace, which I gave him,
        and also fear so that he honored me.
            He was in awe of my name.
⁶True Instruction was in his mouth;
        injustice wasn’t found on his lips.
He walked with me in peace and did the right thing;
        he made many turn from iniquity.
⁷The lips of the priest should guard knowledge;
        everyone^[g] should seek Instruction from his mouth,
            for he is the messenger from the Lord of heavenly forces.
⁸But you have turned from the path.
        You have caused many to stumble by your instruction.
        You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
⁹Moreover, I have made you despised and humiliated in the view of all the people,
        since none of you keep my ways
            or show respect for Instruction.

Judah’s dishonesty

¹⁰Isn’t there one father for all of us,
    one God who created us?
Why does everyone cheat each other
    to make the covenant
        of our ancestors impure?
¹¹Judah cheated—
        a detestable thing was done in Israel and Jerusalem.
    Judah made the Lord’s holy place impure, which God loved,
        and married the daughter of a foreign god.
¹²May the Lord eliminate anyone who does so from the tents of Jacob,
        anyone awaking, testifying,^[h]
        and making an offering to the Lord of heavenly forces.
¹³You should do this as well:
        cover the altar of the Lord with tears, weeping, and groaning
            because there is still no divine favor for your offering or favorable regard
            for anything from your hand.
¹⁴But you say, “Why?”
    Because the Lord testifies about you
            and the wife of your youth against whom you cheated.
    She is your partner,
            the wife of your covenant.
¹⁵Didn’t he make her^[i] the one^[j]
    and the remnant of his spirit?^[k]
    What is the one?
        The one seeking godly offspring.
You should guard your own spirit.
    Don’t cheat on the wife of your youth
¹⁶        because he hates divorce,
says the Lord God of Israel,
            and he also hates the one covering his garment with violence,^[l]
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
        Guard your own life, and don’t cheat.

Purifying judgment

¹⁷You have made the Lord tired with your words.
You say, “How have we made him tired?”
    When you say:
        “Anyone doing evil is good in the Lord’s eyes,”
        or “He delights in those doing evil,”^[m]
        or “Where is the God of justice?”