Malachi 1

¹This is the burden that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision:

¹This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:

¹This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:

¹This is the burden of the word of the Lord against the land of Hadrach and Damascus its resting place—for the eyes of men and of all the tribes of Israel are upon the Lord—

¹This is the burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:

¹On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet, saying:

³The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.

⁸“But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—

⁹I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said, ‘You are My servant.’ I have chosen and not rejected you.

¹⁵Yet the Lord has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. And He has chosen you, their descendants after them, above all the peoples, even to this day.

¹⁰Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac.

¹¹Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,

⁷Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Hosts. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’

⁸Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.

⁴Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.

¹⁰Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.

¹⁹Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.

³and declare that this is what the Lord God says: Behold, I am against you, O Mount Seir. I will stretch out My hand against you and make you a desolate waste.

⁴I will turn your cities into ruins, and you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁶The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

¹⁷“Edom will become an object of horror. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.

¹⁴therefore you will no longer devour men or deprive your nation of its children, declares the Lord God.

¹⁵I will no longer allow the taunts of the nations to be heard against you, and you will no longer endure the reproach of the peoples or cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord God.”

³therefore prophesy and declare that this is what the Lord God says: Because they have made you desolate and have trampled you on every side, so that you became a possession of the rest of the nations and were taken up in slander by the lips of their talkers,

⁴therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and abandoned cities, which have become a spoil and a mockery to the rest of the nations around you.

¹⁴I will take My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, and they will deal with Edom according to My anger and wrath. Then they will know My vengeance, declares the Lord God.’

⁹I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁵Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood!

¹⁶Therefore the Lord God of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame.

⁹All the people will know it—Ephraim and the dwellers of Samaria. With pride and arrogance of heart they will say:

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”

¹⁴They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

¹⁷So there is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children will return to their own land.

²³Then Jesus turned to the disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.

²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

⁷For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the Lord has done.

¹⁰The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”

¹⁶You will advance against My people Israel like a cloud covering the land. It will happen in the latter days, O Gog, that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I show Myself holy in you before their eyes.

²⁶May those who gloat in my distress be ashamed and confounded; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and reproach.

²⁷May those who favor my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, “Exalted be the Lord who delights in His servant’s well-being.”

¹⁷May they be ever ashamed and terrified; may they perish in disgrace.

¹⁸May they know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are Most High over all the earth.

⁴⁶Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I say?

²Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.

¹³You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am.

¹⁴So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.

¹²Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁷Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

¹⁸Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but even to those who are unreasonable.

¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners.

¹²“But you profane it when you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is contemptible.’

²⁷Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

²⁸Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.

⁸When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Hosts.

¹⁵Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”

¹⁶And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you refuse, I will take it by force!”

¹¹No grain offering that you present to the Lord may be made with leaven, for you are not to burn any leaven or honey as a food offering to the Lord.

²¹But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

¹⁹must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for it to be accepted on your behalf.

²⁰You must not present anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

¹³Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the Lord does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.

¹⁰This is what the Lord says about this people: “Truly they love to wander; they have not restrained their feet. So the Lord does not accept them; He will now remember their iniquity and punish them for their sins.”

¹³You also say: ‘Oh, what a nuisance!’ And you turn up your nose at it,” says the Lord of Hosts. “You bring offerings that are stolen, lame, or sick! Should I accept these from your hands?” asks the Lord.

¹⁴“But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.

³May He remember all your gifts and look favorably on your burnt offerings. Selah

³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will.

¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners.

¹⁸If they are indeed prophets and the word of the Lord is with them, let them now plead with the Lord of Hosts that the articles remaining in the house of the Lord, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, not be taken to Babylon.

¹¹But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God, saying, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?

²⁷Then the priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard their voice, and their prayer came into His holy dwelling place in heaven.

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did Hezekiah not fear the Lord and seek His favor, and did not the Lord relent of the disaster He had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great harm on ourselves!”

²Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;

²⁰What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.”

²¹“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

²²Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard.

⁶They go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but they do not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them.

¹¹Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord, saying, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster can come upon us.”

¹¹“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

¹²When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts?

⁶so that all may know, from where the sun rises to where it sets, that there is none but Me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.

⁵For your husband is your Maker—the Lord of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.

¹⁵Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.

¹⁶And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

⁷This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west.

¹⁹I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. So they will proclaim My glory among the nations.

²⁰And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.”

⁶“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the Lord of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’

⁷By presenting defiled food on My altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By saying that the table of the Lord is contemptible.

¹³You also say: ‘Oh, what a nuisance!’ And you turn up your nose at it,” says the Lord of Hosts. “You bring offerings that are stolen, lame, or sick! Should I accept these from your hands?” asks the Lord.

⁴Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?

⁵We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.

⁸But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Hosts.

⁷They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the earth; they push the needy out of their way. A man and his father have relations with the same girl and so profane My holy name.

³Thus they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king drank from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.

⁴As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

³‘My people, what have I done to you? Testify against Me how I have wearied you!

³⁷Then Jesus returned and found them sleeping. “Simon, are you asleep?” He asked. “Were you not able to keep watch for one hour?

³⁸Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

⁷By presenting defiled food on My altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By saying that the table of the Lord is contemptible.

⁸When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Hosts.

¹⁹must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for it to be accepted on your behalf.

²⁰You must not present anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

²²But you have not called on Me, O Jacob, because you have grown weary of Me, O Israel.

²³You have not brought Me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense.

¹⁶When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

¹Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.

²With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds for himself, but brought a portion and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

⁴When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.

⁵It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

¹²For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

⁴⁶The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate. Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

¹²He breaks the spirits of princes; He is feared by the kings of the earth.

⁸When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Hosts.