Malachi 1:6-14

Common English Bible

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^[a]?”
        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^[b]
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,^[c]
        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^[d] 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.