Malachi

11The burden of the word of Yahweh to Israel by the hand of Malachi.

2“I have loved you,” says Yahweh. But you say, “In what have you loved us?” “{Was} not Esau a brother to Jacob?” the declaration of Yahweh. “Yet I loved Jacob, 3but Esau I hated. And I made his mountains a desolation and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.” 4Though Edom says, “We are beaten down, but we will return and build the ruins,” thus says Yahweh of Armies: “They themselves may build, but I myself will tear down. And they will call them ‘the territory of wickedness’ and ‘the people whom Yahweh abhors forever.’ 5And your eyes will see, and you yourselves will say, ‘Great is Yahweh beyond the border of Israel!’

6A son honors a father, and a servant his master. So if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear?” says Yahweh of Armies to you, O priests, despisers of my name. But you say, “In what have we despised your name?” 7“{You are} presenting defiled food upon my altar. But you say, ‘In what have we defiled you?’ In your saying, ‘The table of Yahweh, it is despised.’ 8And when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Present it now to your governor. Will he accept you or lift up your face?” says Yahweh of Armies. 9“And now, please entreat the face of God, that he may be gracious to us. This has been from your hand. Will he lift up your faces?” says Yahweh of Armies. 10“Who even among you will shut the doors, that you might not kindle {fire} on my altar in vain? Pleasure in you is not to me,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11For from the rising of the sun and unto its setting, my name {will be} great among the nations. And in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name {will be} great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies. 12“But you are profaning it in your saying, ‘The table of the Lord, it {is} defiled, and its fruit, its food, is despised.’ 13But you say, ‘Behold, what a weariness!’ And you puff at it,” says Yahweh of Armies. “And you bring the stolen and the lame and the sick—thus you bring the offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” says Yahweh. 14“But cursed {be} the deceiver if a male is in his flock and he vows {it}, but he sacrifices the blemished to the Lord. For I {am} a great King, says Yahweh of Armies, and my name is feared among the nations.

21And now, this commandment {is} for you, O priests. 2If you will not listen, and if you will not set {it} upon the heart to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. And indeed, I have cursed it, for you are not setting {this} upon the heart. 3Behold me, rebuking the seed {that is} to you, and I will spread dung on your faces, the dung of your festivals, and one will take you away with it. Instead of rebuke your descendants , which the Hebrew text has, some ancient and modern versions have cut off your shoulder (or arm ). Some other modern versions have corrupt your descendants . Instead of he will take you away with it , which is in the Hebrew text, some ancient and modern versions have I will take you away from beside me , that is, from my presence . 4And you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, for my covenant to be with Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. 5“My covenant was with him, life and peace, and I gave them to him {for} fear, and he feared me, and before my name he was dismayed. 6The instruction of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found on his lips. In peace and in uprightness he walked with me, and he turned many from iniquity. 7For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and they should seek instruction from his mouth, for he {is} the messenger of Yahweh of Armies. 8But you yourselves have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by {your} instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. 9“So I myself have also made you despised and humiliated before all the people, because you {are} not keeping my ways and {are} lifting faces regarding the instruction.”

10{Is} not one father to all of us? Did not one God create us? Why do we deal treacherously, a man against his brother, to profane the covenant of our fathers? 11Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy place of Yahweh, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12May Yahweh cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, the one being awake and the one answering, even the one bringing an offering to Yahweh of Armies. Instead of the one who is awake and the one who answers , some versions have other expressions such as the master and the one who studies . 13And this second {thing} you do: covering the altar of Yahweh {with} tears, {with} weeping and groaning, because there is no longer turning to the offering or taking {it} with favor {from} your hand. 14But you say, “For what?” Because Yahweh is a witness between you and between the wife of your youth, {with} whom you yourself have dealt treacherously, though she {was} your companion and the wife of your covenant. 15And did he not make one, and a remnant of spirit {was} to him? And why one? {He was} seeking seed of God. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not deal treacherously with the wife of your youth. 16“For I hate divorce,” says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and one {who} covers over his garment with violence,” says Yahweh of Armies. “So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not deal treacherously.”

17You have wearied Yahweh with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied {him}?” In your saying, “All of the doers of evil {are} good in the eyes of Yahweh, and he delights in them,” or, “Where {is} the God of justice?”

31“Behold me, sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way to my face. Then suddenly he will come to his temple, the Lord whom you {are} seeking. And the messenger of the covenant, whom you {are} desiring, behold, {he is} coming,” says Yahweh of Armies.

2“But who {will be} enduring the day of his coming? And who {will be} the one standing in his appearing? For he {will be} like the fire of a refiner and like the soap of launderers. 3And he will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and like silver. And they will be to Yahweh bringers of an offering in righteousness. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Yahweh, as {in} the days of old and as {in} former years. 5And I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the ones swearing to a lie, and against the ones oppressing the wage of the hired worker, the widow, and the orphan, and the ones turning aside the foreigner, and they do not fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies. 6“For I, Yahweh, do not change, so you, sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.

7From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept {them}. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of Armies. “But you say, ‘In what shall we return?’ 8“Will a human rob God? Yet you {are} robbing me.” But you say, ‘In what have we robbed you?’ “{In} the tithe and the contribution.” 9With a curse you {are} cursed, for you {are} robbing me, the nation, all of it. 10Bring all of the tithe to the house of treasure, and let there be food in my house. And test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open for you the windows of the heavens and pour out for you a blessing until there is no sufficiency. 11And I will rebuke the devourer for you, and it will not corrupt for you the fruit of the ground. And the vine in the field will not be barren for you,” says Yahweh of Armies. 12“And all of the nations will bless you, for you will be a land of delight,” says Yahweh of Armies.

13“Your words have been strong against me,” says Yahweh. “But you say, ‘What have we spoken {among ourselves} against you?’ 14You have said, ‘Serving God {is} worthless. And what profit, that we have kept his charge and that we have walked mournfully to the face of Yahweh of Armies? 15So now we ourselves {are} blessing the arrogant. Even doers of wickedness are built up; they even test God and escape.’”

16Then the ones fearing Yahweh spoke {among themselves}, a man with his neighbor. And Yahweh paid attention and heard. And a book of remembrance was written to his face for the ones fearing Yahweh and for the ones esteeming his name. 17“And they will be to me,” says Yahweh of Armies, “a special possession on the day that I {am} preparing. And I will have compassion on them just as a man has compassion on his son, the one serving him. 18And you will return and see between the righteous and to the wicked, between the one serving God and to {one} who does not serve him.

41For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all of the arrogant and all of the doers of wickedness will be stubble. And the coming day will kindle them,” says Yahweh of Armies, “so that it will not leave to them root or branch. 2But for you fearers of my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, and healing {will be} upon its wings. And you will go out and skip like calves of the stall. 3And you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I {am} preparing,” says Yahweh of Armies.

4“Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, which I commanded him at Horeb for all of Israel, the statutes and the judgments. 5Behold, I {am} sending to you Elijah the prophet to the face of the coming of the great and fearsome day of Yahweh. 6And he will turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land {with} a curse.”