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

The Lord's Love for Israel

^2 (A)“I have loved you,” says the Lord. ^(B)But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau ^(C)Jacob's brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet ^(D)I have loved Jacob ³ but Esau I have hated. ^(E)I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” 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, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’” ^5 (F)Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”

The Priests' Polluted Offerings

^6 (G)“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am ^(H)a father, where is my honor? And if I am ^(I)a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. ^(J)But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ ^7 (K)By offering polluted food upon my altar. ^(L)But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that ^(M)the Lord's table may be despised. ^8 (N)When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. ⁹ And now ^(O)entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, ^(P)will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. ^10 (Q)Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, ^(R)and I will not accept an offering from your hand. ¹¹ For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name ^(S)will be^[b] great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name ^(T)will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. ¹² But you profane it when you say that ^(U)the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food, may be despised. ¹³ But you say, ^(V)‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. ^(W)You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. ¹⁴ Cursed be the cheat who has ^(X)a male in his flock, and ^(Y)vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For ^(Z)I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name ^(AA)will be feared among the nations.

The Reign of the Lord's Anointed

9 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and ^(A)I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given ^(B)the key to the shaft of ^(C)the bottomless pit.^{[a] 2} He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft ^(D)rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and ^(E)the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. ³ Then from the smoke came ^(F)locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. ⁴ They were told ^(G)not to harm ^(H)the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have ^(I)the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were allowed to torment them ^(J)for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. ⁶ And in those days ^(K)people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

^7 (L)In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: ^(M)on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were ^(N)like human faces, ⁸ their hair like women's hair, and ^(O)their teeth like lions' teeth; ⁹ they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was ^(P)like the noise of many chariots with ^(Q)horses rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people ^(R)for five months is in their tails. ¹¹ They have ^(S)as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is ^(T)Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.^[b]

^12 (U)The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

¹³ Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from ^(V)the four horns of the golden altar before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release ^(W)the four angels who are bound at ^(X)the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released ^(Y)to kill a third of mankind. ¹⁶ The number of ^(Z)mounted troops was ^(AA)twice ten thousand times ten thousand; ^(AB)I heard their number. ¹⁷ And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire^[c] and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were ^(AC)like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. ¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

²⁰ The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, ^(AD)did not repent of ^(AE)the works of their hands nor give up worshiping ^(AF)demons ^(AG)and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, ²¹ nor did they repent of their murders or their ^(AH)sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.