Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

¹³ “You have spoken arrogantly^(A) against me,” says the Lord.

“Yet you ask,^(B) ‘What have we said against you?’

Breaking Covenant Through Injustice

¹⁷ You have wearied^(A) the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.^(B)

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased^(C) with them” or “Where is the God of justice?^(D)”

⁴ He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God^(A) or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.^(B)

²⁰ But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(A) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(B) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^[a](C)

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.

¹⁴ You ask,^(A) “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness^(B) between you and the wife of your youth.^(C) You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.^(D)

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)