The document was marked with 161 Deletions, 164 Insertions, 0 Moves.

Malachi English Standard Version (ESV)

chapter 1

     1The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.

     The LORD's Love for Israel

     2"I have loved you," says the LORD. But you say, "How have you loved us?" "Is not Esau Jacob's brother?"

     declares the LORD. "Yet I have loved Jacob 3but Esau I have hated. 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," the

     LORD of hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called 'the wicked country,' and

     'the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.'" 5Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is

     the LORD beyond the border of Israel!"

     The Priests' Polluted Offerings

     6"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a

     master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, 'How

     have we despised your name?' 7By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, 'How have we polluted

     you?' By saying that the LORD's table may be despised. 8When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not

     evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he

     accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts. 9And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be

     gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts.

     10Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in

     vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.

     11For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place

     incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says

     the LORD of hosts. 12But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is,

     its food may be despised. 13But you say, 'What a weariness this is,' and you snort at it, says the LORD 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 the LORD. 14Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows

     it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my

     name will be feared among the nations.

chapter 2

     The LORD Rebukes the Priests

     1"And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give

     honor to my name, says the LORD 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 on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.

     4So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the

     LORD of hosts. 5My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant

     of 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 people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the

     messenger of the LORD 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 the LORD of hosts, 9and so I

     make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show

     partiality in your instruction."

     Judah Profaned the Covenant

     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 the LORD, which he loves, and has married

     the daughter of a foreign god. 12May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob, any descendant of the man

     who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!

     13And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because

     he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14But you say, "Why does he not?"

     Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless,

     though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15Did he not make them one, with a portion of the

     Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit,

     and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16"For the man who hates and divorces, says the

     LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in

     your spirit, and do not be faithless."

     The Messenger of the LORD

     17You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, "How have we wearied him?" By saying,

     "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is

     the God of justice?"

chapter 3

     1"Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will

     suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming,

     says the LORD 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, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the

     LORD. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD 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 hired worker in his wages, the

     widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD

     of hosts.

     Robbing God

     6"For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children 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 the LORD of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' 8Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing

     me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. 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 the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows

     of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 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

     the LORD of hosts. 12Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of

     hosts.

     13"Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, 'How have we spoken against you?'

     14You have said, 'It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in

     mourning before the LORD of hosts? 15And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but

     they put God to the test and they escape.'"

     The Book of Remembrance

     16Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a

     book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. 17"They

     shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare

     them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18Then once more you shall see the distinction between the

     righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

chapter 4

     The Great Day of the LORD

     1 "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble.

     The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD 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 out 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 the LORD of hosts.

     4"Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all

     Israel.

     5"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6And he

     will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and

     strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."