yet I have accepted Jacob 3and have rejected Esau. I have made his hills a desolation, his territory a-a home for beasts-a of the desert. 4If Edom thinks, “Though crushed, we can build the ruins again,” thus said the LORD of Hosts: They may build, but I will tear down. And so they shall be known as the region of wickedness, the people damned forever of the LORD. 5Your eyes shall behold it, and you shall declare, “Great is the LORD beyond the borders of Israel!”
6A son should honor his father, and a slaveb his master. Now if I am a father, where is the honor due Me? And if I am a master, where is the reverence due Me?— said the LORD of Hosts to you, O priests who scorn My name. But you ask, “How have we scorned Your name?” 7You offer defiled food on My altar. But you ask, “How have we defiled You?”c By saying, “The table of the LORD can be treated with scorn.” 8When you present a blind animal for sacrifice—it doesn’t matter! When you present a lame or sick one—it doesn’t matter! Just offer it to your governor: Will he accept you? Will he show you favor?— said the LORD of Hosts. 9And now implore the favor of God! Will He be gracious to us? This is what you have done—will He accept any of you?
The LORD of Hosts has said: 10If only you would lock My doors, and not kindle fire on My altar to no purpose! I take no pleasure in you— said the LORD of Hosts—and I will accept no offering from you. 11For from where the sun rises to where it sets, My name is honored among the nations, and everywhere incense and pure oblation are offered to My name; for My name is honored among the nations—said the LORD of Hosts. 12But you profane it when you say, “The table of the LORD is defiled and the meat,a the food, can be treated with scorn.” 13You say, “Oh, what a bother!” And so you degradea it—said the LORD of Hosts— and you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; and you offer such as an oblation. Will I accept it from you?— said the LORD.
14A curse on the cheat who has an [unblemished] male in his flock, but for his vow sacrifices a blemished animal to the LORD! For I am a great King—said the LORD of Hosts—and My name is revered among the nations.
2 And now, O priests, this charge is for you: 2Unless you obey and unless you lay it to heart, and do honor to My name—said the LORD of Hosts—I will send a curse and turn your blessings into curses. (Indeed, I have turned them into curses, because you do not lay it to heart.) 3I will a-put your seed under a ban,-a and I will strew dung upon your faces, the dung of your festal sacrifices, and you shall be carried out to its [heap].
4Know, then, that I have sent this charge to you that My covenant with Levi may endure—said the LORD of Hosts. 5I had with him a covenant of life and well-being, which I gave to him, and of reverence, which he showed Me. For he stood in awe of My name.
6bProper rulings were in his mouth,
And nothing perverse was on his lips;
He served Me with complete loyalty
And held the many back from iniquity.
7c-For the lips of a priest guard knowledge,
And men seek rulings from his mouth;-c
For he is a messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
8But you have turned away from that course: You have made the many stumble through your rulings;d you have corrupted the covenant of the Levites—said the LORD of Hosts. 9And I, in turn, have made you despicable and vile in the eyes of all the people, because you disregard My ways and show partiality in your rulings.
10Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we break faith with one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors? 11Judah has broken faith; abhorrent things have been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned what is holy to the LORD—what He desires—and espoused daughters of alien gods. 12May the LORD leave to him who does this a-no descendants-a dwelling in the tents of Jacob and presenting offerings to the LORD of Hosts. 13And this you do e-as well:-e You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, weeping, and moaning, so that He refuses to regard the oblation any more and to accept f-what you offer.-f 14But you ask, “Because of what?” Because the LORD is a witness between you and the wife of your youth with whom you have broken faith, though she is your partner and covenanted spouse. 15Did not the One make [all,] a-so that all remaining life-breath is His? And what does that One seek but godly folk? So be careful of your life-breath,-a and let no one break faith with the wife of his youth. 16For I detest divorce— said the LORD, the God of Israel—a-and covering oneself with lawlessness as with a garment-a—said the LORD of Hosts. So be careful of your life-breath and do not act treacherously.
17You have wearied the LORD with your talk. But you ask, “By what have we wearied [Him]?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or else, “Where is the God of justice?”
3 Behold, I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenanta that you desire, he is already coming. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can hold out when he appears? For he is like a smelter’s fire and like fuller’s lye. 3He shall actb like a smelter and purger of silver; and he shall purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they shall present offerings in righteousness. 4Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of yore and in the years of old. 5But [first] I will step forward to contend against you, and I will act as a relentless accuser against those who have no fear of Me: Who practice sorcery, who commit adultery, who swear falsely, who cheat laborers of their hire, and who subvert [the cause of] the widow, orphan, and stranger, said the LORD of Hosts.
6cFor I am the LORD—I have not changed; and you are the children of Jacob—you have not ceased to be. 7From the very days of your fathers you have turned away from My laws and have not observed them. Turn back to Me, and I will turn back to you—said the LORD of Hosts. But you ask, “How shall we turn back?” 8Ought man to defraudd God? Yet you are defrauding Me. And you ask, “How have we been defrauding You?” In tithe and contribution.e 9You are suffering under a curse, yet you go on defrauding Me—the whole nation of you. 10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse,f and let there be food in My House, and thus put Me to the test—said the LORD of Hosts. I will surely open the floodgates of the sky for you and pour down blessings on you; 11and I will banish the locustsg from you, so that they will not destroy the yield of your soil; and your vines in the field shall no longer miscarry—said the LORD of Hosts. 12And all the nations shall account you happy, for you shall be the most desired of lands—said the LORD of Hosts.
13You have spoken hard words against Me—said the LORD. But you ask, “What have we been saying among ourselves against You?” 14You have said, “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His charge and walking in abject awe of the LORD of Hosts? 15And so, we account the arrogant happy; they have indeed done evil and endured; they have indeed dared God and escaped.” 16In this vein have those who revere the LORD been talking to one another. The LORD has heard and noted it, and a scroll of remembrance has been written at His behest concerning those who revere the LORD and esteem His name. 17And on the day that I am preparing, said the LORD of Hosts, they shall be My treasured possession; I will be tender toward them as a man is tender toward a son who ministers to him. 18And you shall come to see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who has served the LORD and him who has not served Him.
19For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven. All the arrogant and all the doers of evil shall be straw, and the day that is coming—said the LORD of Hosts—shall burn them to ashes and leave of them neither stock nor boughs. 20But for you who revere My name a sun of victory shall rise h-to bring healing.-h You shall go forth and stamp like stall-fed calves, 21and you shall trample the wicked to a pulp, for they shall be dust beneath your feet on the day that I am preparing—said the LORD of Hosts.
22Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel.
23Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming