Malaquías 1

I have loved you

¹An oracle: the word of the LORD to Israel \q through Malachi.^{a 2}I have loved you, says the LORD. \q Yet you ask, “In what way have you loved us?” \q Was Esau not Jacob’s brother? declares the LORD. \q Even so, I loved Jacob, ³but Esau I hated. \q I have turned his mountains into a wasteland \q and left his inheritance to the jackals of the desert.^{b 4}Edom may say, “We have been crushed, but we will rebuild the ruins.” \q But the LORD of Armies says this: They may build, but I will tear down. \q They will be called the Land of Wickedness, \q the people with whom the LORD is angry forever. ⁵You will see it with your own eyes, \q and you will say, “Great is the LORD, \q even beyond the borders of Israel!” ⁶A son honors his father, and a servant honors his master. \q If I am a father, where is the honor due to me? If I am a master, where is the respect due to me? says the LORD of Armies to you priests who despise my name. \q Yet you ask, “In what way have we despised your name?” ⁷You offer defiled food on my altar. \q Yet you ask, “In what way have we defiled you?” \q By saying, \q “The table of the LORD may be despised.”^{c 8}When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not wrong? \q When you offer animals that are lame or sick, is that not wrong? \q Just try offering such a thing to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or receive you kindly? \q says the LORD of Armies. ⁹So now, plead with God to be gracious to us! \q With such offerings from your hands, \q will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of Armies. ¹⁰If only one of you would close the temple doors \q and stop you from lighting useless fires on my altar! \q I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of Armies, \q and I will not accept an offering from your hands. ¹¹From where the sun rises to where it sets, my name is great among the nations. \q In every place incense is offered to my name, and pure offerings, \q because my name is great among the nations, \q says the LORD of Armies.^{d 12}But you profane it \q by saying, “The Lord’s table is defiled, \q and the food on it can be despised.” ¹³You say, “What a burden this is!” and you sniff at it in contempt, says the LORD of Armies. \q You bring animals that were stolen, or lame or sick, \q and these you bring as your offering! \q Should I accept that from your hands? says the LORD.^e

¹⁴Cursed is the cheat who has a sound male in their flock and vows to give it, \q but then sacrifices to the Lord an animal with a blemish! \q I am a great King, says the LORD of Armies, \q and my name is feared among the nations.