{ heart } [MA] 1v1
The burden of the word of the LORD
to Israel by Malachi.
The burden of the word of the LORD
to Israel by Malachi.
I have loved you,
Saith the LORD:
Yet ye say,
‘Wherein hast THOU loved us?
was not Esau Jacob's brother,’
Saith the LORD?
Yet I loved Jacob,
And I hated Esau,
and laid his mountains, and his heritage waste,
for the dragons of the wilderness.
Whereas Edom saith,
‘We are impoverished,
but we will return and build the desolate places’;
Thus saith the LORD of hosts,
They shall build, but I will throw down;
and they shall call them,
‘The border of wickedness,’
and,
‘The people against whom the LORD hath indignation
forever’.
And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say;
‘The LORD will be magnified
from the border of Israel’.
A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master.
If then I be a FATHER, where is MINE honor?
and if I be a MASTER, where is MY fear,
Saith the LORD of hosts,
Unto you O priests, that despise MY NAME?
and ye say,
‘Wherein have we despised THY NAME?’
Ye offer polluted bread upon MINE altar;
and ye say,
‘Wherein have we polluted THEE?’
In that ye say,
‘The table of the LORD is contemptible’.
And if he offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?
and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?
offer it now unto thy governor:
will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person,
Saith the LORD of hosts?
And now I pray you, beseech GOD:
that HE will be gracious unto us:
this hath been by your means:
will HE regard your persons,
Saith the LORD of hosts?
Who is there even among you
that would shut the doors for nought?
neither do ye kindle fire on MINE altar for nought.
I have no pleasure in you,
Saith the LORD of hosts,
Neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
For from the rising of the sun,
even unto the going down of the same
MY NAME shall be great among the Gentiles,
and in every place
incense shall be offered unto MY NAME,
and a pure offering:
for MY NAME shall be great among the heathen,
Saith the LORD of hosts.
But ye have profaned it, in that ye say;
‘The table of the LORD is polluted;
and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible’.
Ye said also;
‘Behold what a weariness is it,’
And ye have snuffed at it,
Saith the LORD of hosts,
And ye brought that which was torn,
and the lame, and the sick:
thus ye brought an offering:
should I accept this of your hand,
Saith the LORD?
But cursed be the deceiver,
which hath in his flock a male,
and voweth and sacrificeth unto the LORD
a corrupt thing:
for I AM a great KING,
Saith the LORD of hosts,
And MY NAME is dreadful among the heathen.
And now, O ye priests,
this commandment is for you.
If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart,
to give glory unto MY NAME,
Saith the LORD of hosts;
I will even send a curse upon you,
and I will curse your blessings:
yea, I have cursed them already,
because ye do not lay it to heart.
Behold, I will corrupt your seed,
and spread dung upon your faces,
even the dung of your solemn feasts,
and one shall take you away with it.
And ye shall know
‘That I have sent this commandment unto you,
that MY covenant might be with Levi’,
Saith the LORD of hosts.
MY covenant was with him of life and peace,
and I gave them to him,
for the fear, wherewith he feared ME,
and was afraid before MY NAME.
The law of truth was in his mouth,
and iniquity was not found in his lips:
he walked with ME in peace and equity,
and did turn many away from iniquity.
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge,
and they should seek the law at his mouth:
for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
But ye are departed out of the way:
ye have caused many to stumble at the law:
ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi,
Saith the LORD of hosts.
Therefore have I also made you contemptible
and base before all the people,
according as ye have not kept MY ways,
but have been partial in the law.
Have we not all one FATHER?
hath not one GOD created us?
Why do we deal treachously,
every man against his brother,
by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Judah hath dealt treachously,
and an abomination is committed
in Israel and in Jerusalem;
for Judah hath profaned
the holiness of the LORD
which HE loved,
and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
The LORD will cut off the man
that doeth this,
the master and the scholar,
out of the tabernacles of Jacob,
and him that offereth an offering
unto the LORD of hosts.
And this have ye done again,
covering the altar of the LORD with tears,
with weeping, and with crying out,
insomuch that HE regardeth not
the offering any more,
or receiveth it with good will
at your hand.
Yet ye say,
‘Wherefore?’
Because the LORD hath been witness
between thee and the wife of thy youth,
against whom thou hast dealt treachously;
yet is she thy companion,
and the wife of thy covenant.
And did not HE make one?
yet had HE the residue of the spirit:
and wherefore one,
that HE might seek a godly seed:
therefore, take heed to your spirit,
and let none deal treachously
against the wife of his youth.
For the LORD,
the GOD of Israel, saith
That HE hateth putting away;
for one covereth violence with his garment,
Saith the LORD of hosts;
Therefore, take heed to your spirit,
that ye deal not treachously.
Ye have wearied the LORD with your words:
yet ye say,
‘Wherein have we wearied HIM?’
When ye say,
‘Every one that doeth evil
is good in the sight of the LORD,
and HE delighteth in them;’
Or,
‘Where is the GOD of judgment?’
Behold,
I will send MY messenger,
and he shall prepare the way
before ME;
and the LORD, WHOM ye seek,
shall suddenly come to HIS temple,
even the MESSENGER of the covenant,
WHOM ye delight in;
behold, HE shall come,
Saith the LORD of hosts.
But who may abide the day of HIS coming?
and who shall stand when HE appeareth?
for HE is like a refiner's fire,
and like fullers' soap:
And HE shall sit
as a refiner and purifier of silver;
and HE shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and silver,
that they may offer unto the LORD
an offering in righteousness.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
be pleasant unto the LORD,
as in the days of old, and as in former years.
And I will come near to you
to judgment;
and I will be a swift witness
against the sorcerers,
and against the adulterers,
and against false swearers,
and against those that oppress
the hireling in his wages,
the widow, and the fatherless,
and that turn aside the sojourner from his right,
and fear not ME,
Saith the LORD of hosts.
For I AM the LORD,
I change not;
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Even from the days of your fathers
ye are gone away from MINE ordinances,
and have not kept them.
return unto ME, and I will return unto you,
Saith the LORD of hosts.
But ye said,
‘Wherein shall we return?’
Will a man rob GOD?
yet ye have robbed ME.
But ye say,
‘Wherein have we robbed THEE?’
In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse;
for ye have robbed ME,
even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be food in MINE house,
and prove ME now herewith,
Saith the LORD of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough
to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer
for your sakes,
and he shall not destroy
the fruits of your ground;
neither shall your vine cast her fruit
before the time in the field,
Saith the LORD of hosts.
And all nations shall call you
‘Blessed;’
For ye shall be a delightsome land,
Saith the LORD of hosts.
Your words have been stout against ME,
Saith the LORD,
Yet ye say,
‘What have we spoken so much
against THEE?’
Ye have said,
‘It is vain to serve GOD;
and what profit is it
that we have kept HIS ordinance,
and that we have walked mournfully
before the LORD of hosts?’
And now we call the proud
‘Happy;’
Yea, they that work wickedness
are set up;
yea, they that tempt GOD
are even delivered.
Then they that feared the LORD
spake often one to another;
and the LORD hearkened, and heard it,
and a book of remembrance
was written before HIM
for them that feared the LORD,
and that thought upon HIS NAME.
And they shall be MINE,
Saith the LORD of hosts,
In that day
when I make up MY jewels;
and I will spare them,
as a man spareth his own son
that serveth him.
Then shall ye return,
and discern between the righteous
and the wicked,
between him that serveth GOD
and him that serveth HIM not.
For, behold, the day cometh,
that shall burn as an oven,
and all the proud,
yea, and all that do wickedly,
shall be stubble;
and the day that cometh
shall burn them up,
Saith the LORD of hosts,
That it shall leave them
neither root nor branch.
But unto you that fear MY NAME
shall the SUN of righteousness arise
with healing in HIS wings;
and ye shall go forth,
and grow up as calves of the stall.
And ye shall tread down the wicked;
for they shall be ashes
under the soles of your feet
in the day that I shall do this,
Saith the LORD of hosts.
Remember ye the law of Moses,
MY servant,
which I commanded unto him in Horeb
for all Israel,
with the statutes and judgments.
Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet,
before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the LORD;
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers
to the children,
and the heart of the children
to their fathers,
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.