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oracle: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have You loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the Lord says. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Edom may say: “We have been crushed, but we will rebuild the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people whom the Lord has cursed forever. 5 Your own eyes will see this, and you will say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
6 “A son honours his father, and a servant his master. But if I am father, where is the honour due Me? And if I am a master, where is the reverence due Me?” says the Lord of Hosts. “It is you priests who despise My name.”
“But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’
7 “You present defiled food on My altar.
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’
“By saying, ‘The Lord’s table is contemptible. 8 When you presence blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you present crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try presenting them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he view you favourably?” says the Lord of Hosts.
9 “But now seek God’s favour, ‘Will He be gracious to us?’ While you are offering such sacrifices with your own hands, should He show favour to any of you?” asks the Lord of Hosts.
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer light useless fires on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and I will not accept an offering of sacrifice from your hands. 11 From the rising of the sun to its setting, My name will be great among the nations. Incense and pure offerings will be brought to My name in every place, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of Hosts.
12 “But you are profaning My name when you say, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled’, and of its food, ‘it is contemptible’. 13 You also say, ‘What a burden this is!’ and you sniff at it and scorn it,” says the Lord of Hosts.
“You bring stolen, lame, or diseased animals and offer them as a sacrifice! Am I to accept these from your hands?” says the Lord. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord! I am a great King,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.”