1 ¶ The disclosure of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.

2 I have loved you, says the LORD. Yet you say, How have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? asks the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,

3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the reptiles of the desert.

4 If Edom says, We are impoverished, but we will return and rebuild the ruins; the LORD of hosts says, They may build, but I will tear it down; and they will be called, A nation of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD is angry for ever.

5 And your eyes will see it, and you will say, The LORD is great even beyond the borders of Israel.

6 ¶ A son honors his father, and a servant his master: so then if I am a father, where is my honor? and if I am a master, where is my respect? The LORD of hosts says this, O priests, who despise my name. You ask, In what way have we despised your name?

7 You offer polluted food upon my altar; and you say, How have we profaned you? You have done it by thinking that you can treat the table of the LORD with contempt.

8 And if you offer a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now to your ruler; will he be pleased with you, or welcome you? asks the LORD of hosts.

9 And now, I urge you, to plead with God to show you mercy: your hands have done this: will he welcome any of you? asks the LORD of hosts.

10 Who is there even among you who will shut the doors of the temple? So you will no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar. I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from you.

11 For from the rising of the sun to its going down my name will be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense will be offered in my name, and clean offerings: for my name will be great among the heathen, says the LORD of hosts.

12 But you make it unholy, by thinking that, The LORD’S table may be defiled; and that its product, the food on it, is contemptible.

13 You also say, Having to do this is a nuisance! and you scorn it, says the LORD of hosts; and you bring animals that are injured, lame, or sick. When you bring such an offering: should I accept it from you gladly? asks the LORD.

14 No a curse is on anyone who cheats, who has in his flock a male, that he vows to give, and then sacrifices an injured animal to the Lord: I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is feared among the heathen.