Malachi 1

1 ¹ This is the word of our Father to Israel, delivered through Malachi. ^a a v1 The name Malachi means "my messenger" — fitting for the book that closes the Old Testament by announcing the messenger who prepares the way.

² “I have loved you,” says our Father. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares our Father. “Yet I have loved Jacob, ³ but Esau I have rejected. I turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the jackals of the wilderness.” ⁴ Edom may say, “We have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins.” But this is what the Father of heaven’s armies says: “They may build, but I will tear down. They will be called the Wicked Land, the people with whom our Father is angry forever. ⁵ You will see it with your own eyes and say, “Great is our Father—even beyond the borders of Israel!”

Priests Who Despise the Father's Name

⁶ “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is the honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the reverence due me? says the Father of heaven’s armies to you priests who despise my name. But you ask, ‘How have we despised your name?’ ^b b v6 Here our Father names himself Father outright and asks his children for the honor a son naturally gives — the heart-cry that runs through the whole book. ⁷ “You place defiled food on my altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying that our Father’s table may be despised. ⁸ When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Father of heaven’s armies.

⁹ “Now plead with our Father to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept any of you?” says the Father of heaven’s armies.

¹⁰ “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the Father of heaven’s armies, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. ¹¹ “My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Father of heaven’s armies. ¹² “But you profane it when you say the Sovereign Father’s table is defiled and its food may be despised. ¹³ “And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it in contempt,” says the Father of heaven’s armies. “When you bring stolen, lame, or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says our Father.

¹⁴ “Cursed is the cheat who has a sound male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Sovereign Father. For I am a great King,” says the Father of heaven’s armies, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.”