Malachi 1:1-8

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

1 An oracle. The word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.^[a]

Israel Preferred to Edom

² “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” says the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,^{(A) 3} but I have hated Esau; I have made his hill country a desolation and his heritage a desert for jackals.^{(B) 4} If Edom says, ‘We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,’ the Lord of hosts says: They may build, but I will tear down, until they are called the wicked country, the people with whom the Lord is angry forever. ⁵ Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, ‘Great is the Lord beyond the borders of Israel!’ ”^(C)

Corruption of the Priesthood

⁶ A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is the honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. You say, “How have we despised your name?”^{(D) 7} By offering polluted food on my altar. And you say, “How have we polluted it?”^[b] By thinking that the Lord’s table may be despised.^{(E) 8} When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not wrong? Try presenting that to your governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.^(F)