— select-a-version↑ 1.
1The oracle of the word of Yahweh to Israel by Malachi.
2"I have loved you," says Yahweh. But you say, "How have you loved us?" " Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" says Yahweh. "Yet I have loved Jacob 3but I have hated Esau; I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert." 4If Edom says, "We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins," Yahweh of hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, till they are called the wicked country, the people with whom Yahweh is angry for ever." 5Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is Yahweh, beyond the border of Israel!"
6"A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honour? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says Yahweh of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?' 7By offering polluted food upon my altar. And you say, 'How have we polluted it?' By thinking that Yahweh's table may be despised. 8When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that no evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that no evil? Present that to your governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favour? says Yahweh of hosts. 9And now entreat the favour of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favour to any of you? says Yahweh of hosts. 10Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire upon my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says Yahweh of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says Yahweh of hosts. 12But you profane it when you say that Yahweh's table is polluted, and the food for it may be despised. 13'What a weariness this is,' you say, and you sniff at me, says Yahweh of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says Yahweh. 14Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to Yahweh what is blemished; for I am a great King, says Yahweh of hosts, and my name is feared among the nations.
↑ 2.
1"And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says Yahweh of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; indeed I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung upon your faces, the dung of your offerings, and I will put you out of my presence. 4So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may hold, says Yahweh of hosts. 5My covenant with him was a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him, that he might fear; and he feared me, he stood in awe of my name. 6True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts. 8But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says Yahweh of hosts, 9and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in your instruction."
10Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of Yahweh, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12May Yahweh cut off from the tents of Jacob, for the man who does this, any to witness or answer, or to bring an offering to Yahweh of hosts!
13And this again you do. You cover Yahweh's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favour at your hand. 14You ask, "Why does he not?" Because Yahweh was witness to the covenant between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15Has not the one God made and sustained for us the spirit of life? And what does he desire? Godly offspring. So take heed to yourselves, and let none be faithless to the wife of his youth. 16"For I hate divorce, says Yahweh the God of Israel, and covering one's garment with violence, says Yahweh of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless."
17You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, "How have we wearied him?" By saying, "Every one who does evil is good in the sight of Yahweh, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"
↑ 3.
1"Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and Yahweh whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says Yahweh of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? " For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; 3he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to Yahweh. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Yahweh as in the days of old and as in former years.
5"Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says Yahweh of hosts.
6"For I Yahweh do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. 7From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says Yahweh of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' 8Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How are we robbing you?' In your tithes and offerings. 9You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me; the whole nation of you. 10Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house; and thereby put me to the test, says Yahweh of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says Yahweh of hosts. 12Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says Yahweh of hosts.
13"Your words have been stout against me, says Yahweh. Yet you say, 'How have we spoken against you?' 14You have said, 'It is vain to serve God. What is the good of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before Yahweh of hosts? 15Henceforth we deem the arrogant blessed; evildoers not only prosper but when they put God to the test they escape.' "
16Then those who feared Yahweh spoke with one another; Yahweh heeded and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared Yahweh and thought on his name. 17"They shall be mine, says Yahweh of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18Then once more you shall distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
↑ 4.
1"For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says Yahweh of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall. 3And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says Yahweh of hosts.
4"Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
5"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. 6And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse."