Malachi 1.1-2.7
The burden of the word of God to Israel by Malachi.
I have loved you, says God. Yet you say, “How have you loved us?” Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? says God. Yet I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau; I destroyed his mountains and gave his heritage to the jackals of the desert. If Edom says, “We are shattered, but we will return and rebuild the desolate places,” thus says the Lord of hosts: They may rebuild, but I will throw down. They will be called the border of wickedness, and the people with whom God is forever angry.
Your eyes will see, and you will say: “God is great beyond the border of Israel.”
A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If, then, I am a father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise My name. And you say, “How have we despised your name?”
By offering polluted food on my altar. And you say, “How have we polluted You?” In that way you say, “God’s table is contemptible. When you offer blind [animals] for sacrifice is that not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is that not evil? Present it now to you governor; will he be pleased with your show of favor? says the Lord of hosts.
And now, entreat God that He may be gracious to us! But when you bring that kind of gift, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts.
Oh, that there were one among you would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on Mmy altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.
For from the rising of the sun until it sets, My name is great among the nations, and in every place, offerings are presented in My name, even pure obligations; for My name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it, in that way you say, “God’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food, is contemptible.”
You also say, “What a weariness it is,” and you sniffed at it, says the Lord of hosts. You have brought what was taken by violence and the lame and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this from your hand? says God.
But cursed is the deceiver who has a male in his flock, and vows, and sacrifices something blemished to God; for I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and My name is feared among the nations.
And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, and will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse you blessings. Indeed, I will curse them, because you do not take it to heart.
Look! I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your sacrifices; you will be taken away with it. Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant with Levi my hold, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant with him was a covenant of life and peace, and I gave then to him, for the fear with which he feared Me, and was afraid of my name. The Torah of truth was in his mouth, and no iniquity was found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.
The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and men should week Torah from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.