1 This is the Word of the Lord spoken to Israel through Malachi.

God’s Love for Israel

² “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” says the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, ³ but I have hated Esau. I have laid waste his mountains and have given his riches to the wild dogs of the desert.” ⁴ Edom may say, “We have been destroyed, but we will return and build our cities again.” But the Lord of All says, “They may build, but I will tear down. They will be called the sinful land, the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.” ⁵ You will see this with your own eyes and say, “The Lord is great even outside the land of Israel!”

Unclean Gifts Given on the Altar

⁶ “A son honors his father. A servant honors his owner. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? If I am a boss, where is My respect? says the Lord of All to you, O religious leaders who hate My name. But you say, ‘How have we hated Your name?’ ⁷ You are bringing unclean food to My altar. But you say, ‘How have we made Your altar unclean?’ “Because you say the Lord’s table is to be hated. ⁸ When you bring a blind animal to the altar as My gift, is it not sinful? When you bring one that cannot walk, or one that is sick, is it not sinful? Why not bring it to your ruler? Would he be pleased with you? Would he receive it?” says the Lord of All. ⁹ “Now pray for God’s favor, that He may be kind to us. With such gifts from your hands, will He receive any of you in kindness?” says the Lord of All. ¹⁰ “If only there were one among you who would shut the gates and stop you from burning a fire on My altar for nothing! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of All. “And I will not receive a gift in worship from you. ¹¹ From sunrise to sunset My name will be great among the nations. Special perfume will be given to My name everywhere, and a grain gift that is pure. For My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of All. ¹² “But you are making it unclean when you say that the table of the Lord is unclean, and that its food is to be hated. ¹³ You say, ‘How tired it makes us!’ And you turn your nose away from it,” says the Lord of All. “You bring what was stolen, and what cannot walk, and what is sick. You bring this as your gift! Should I receive that from your hands?” says the Lord. ¹⁴ “A curse will come upon the sinful man who promises to give a male from his flock, but gives an animal that is not perfect to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the Lord of All. “And My name is feared among the nations.

Sinful Religious Leaders

2 “And now, this word is for you, O religious leaders. ² If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor My name,” says the Lord of All, “then I will send the curse on you. I will destroy the good things you have been given. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you have not set your heart to honor Me. ³ I will speak sharp words to your children. I will spread animal waste on your faces, the waste of your special suppers. And you will be taken away with it. ⁴ Then you will know that I have sent this word to you, so that My agreement with Levi may be kept,” says the Lord of All. ⁵ “My agreement with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him, that he might honor Me with fear. So he honored Me with fear. My name filled him with fear and wonder. ⁶ True teaching was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and was right and good. And he turned many from sin. ⁷ For the lips of a religious leader should have much learning. Men should listen for teaching from his mouth, for he is sent by the Lord of All. ⁸ But you have turned aside from the way. You have made many fall by your teaching. You have sinned against the agreement of Levi,” says the Lord of All. ⁹ “So I have made you hated and ashamed in front of all the people, for you are not keeping My ways. You have shown favor to certain people when you teach them.”

The People Are Not Faithful to God

¹⁰ “Do we not all have one Father? Has not one God made us? Why can we not be trusted by one another? Why do we sin against the agreement of our fathers? ¹¹ Judah has not been faithful. A very sinful thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has made unclean the holy place of the Lord, which He loves. And he has married the daughter of a strange god. ¹² May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob every man who does this, even if he brings a gift in worship to the Lord of All. ¹³ This is another thing you do: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears from much crying, because He no longer cares about the gift or receives it with favor from your hands. ¹⁴ You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord has seen how you have not been faithful to the wife you married when you were young, even when she stays with you and is your wife by agreement. ¹⁵ Has not the Lord made them one in flesh and spirit? And what does He desire but God-like children? Be careful then in your spirit, and stay faithful to the wife you married when you were young. ¹⁶ “For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “And I hate the man who does wrong to his wife,” says the Lord of All. “So be careful in your spirit, and be one who can be trusted.”

¹⁷ You have made the Lord tired with your words. Yet you say, “How have we made Him tired?” By saying, “Everyone who sins is good in the eyes of the Lord, and He is pleased with them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God Who is fair?”

The One to Come

3 “See, I am going to send one with news, and he will make the way ready before Me. Then all at once the Lord you are looking for will come to His house. The one with the news of the agreement, whom you desire, is coming,” says the Lord of All. ² “But who can live through the day of His coming? Who can stand when He shows Himself? For He is like a fire for making gold pure, and like a strong cleaner. ³ He will sit as one who melts silver and makes it pure. He will make the sons of Levi pure. He will make them pure like gold and silver, so that they may bring the right gifts to the Lord. ⁴ Then the gifts of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as they were in the past. ⁵ Then I will come to judge you. I will be quick to speak against those who use witchcraft, and those who do sex sins, and those who make false promises. I will speak against those who do not pay a man what he has earned, and who make it hard for the woman whose husband has died and for children who have no parents. And I will speak against those who turn away the stranger and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of All.

⁶ “For I, the Lord, do not change. So you, O children of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Giving to God a Tenth Part

⁷ “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My Laws and have not obeyed them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of All. “But you say, ‘How are we to return?’ ⁸ Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ You have not given Me the tenth part of what you receive and your gifts. ⁹ You are cursed, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! ¹⁰ Bring the tenth part into the store-house, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the Lord of All. “See if I will not then open the windows of heaven and pour out good things for you until there is no more need. ¹¹ I will speak sharp words to the destroyer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground. And your vine in the field will be sure to give its grapes,” says the Lord of All. ¹² “All the nations will say that much good has come to you, for you will be a happy land,” says the Lord of All.

The People Complain

¹³ “Your words have been spoken in pride against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘What have we said against You?’ ¹⁴ You have said, ‘It is of no worth to serve God. What do we get by doing what He says, or by walking in sorrow before the Lord of All? ¹⁵ So now we say that it is good to be proud. Not only are sinners doing well, but they put God to the test and get away with it.’”

The Book to Be Remembered

¹⁶ Then those who feared the Lord spoke often to one another, and the Lord listened to them. And the names of those who worshiped the Lord and honored Him were written down before Him in a Book to be remembered. ¹⁷ “They will be Mine says the Lord of All, “on that day that I gather My special people. I will have loving-pity on them as a man has loving-pity on his own son who serves him.” ¹⁸ Then you will again see the difference between those who are right and good, and those who are sinful. You will see the difference between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

The Great Day of the Lord

4 “See, the day is coming. It is burning like a hot fire. And all those who are proud and those who do wrong will be like dry grass. The day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord of All. “Not a root or branch will be left to them. ² But for you who fear My name, the sun of what is right and good will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and dance like calves from the cattle-house. ³ You will crush the sinful under foot. They will be ashes under your feet on the day when I do these things,” says the Lord of All.

⁴ “Remember the Law of My servant Moses. Remember all the Laws I gave him in Horeb for all Israel. ⁵ See, I will send you Elijah the man of God before the day of the Lord comes, that great day that will be full of much trouble. ⁶ And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Or else I will come and destroy the land with a curse.”