Category: Malachi

The Lord’s Love for Israel

1 An oracle:The word of theLordto Israel throughMalachi.

2 “I have loved you,”says theLord.

But you ask: “How have You loved us? ”

“Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother? ”This is theLord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob,

3 but I hated Esau.I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

4 Though Edom says: “We have been devastated, but we will rebuildthe ruins,” theLordof Hosts says this: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked countryand the people theLordhas cursedforever.

5 Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say, ‘TheLordis great, even beyondthe borders of Israel.’

Disobedience of the Priests

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?says Yahweh of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name.”

Yet you ask: “How have we despised Your name? ”

7 “By presenting defiled food on My altar.”

You ask: “How have we defiled You? ”

When you say: “TheLord’s table is contemptible.”

8 “When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong?Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor? ” asks theLordof Hosts.

9 “And now ask for God’s favor. Will He be gracious to us?Since this has come from your hands, will He show any of you favor? ”asks theLordof Hosts.

10 “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors,so you would no longer kindle a useless fire on My altar!I am not pleased with you,” says theLordof Hosts, “and I will acceptno offering from your hands.

11 “For My name will be great among the nations,from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incenseand pure offerings will be presented in My name in every place because My name will be great among the nations,”says Yahweh of Hosts.

12 But you are profaning itwhen you say: “The Lord’s table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.”

13 You also say: “Look, what a nuisance! ” “And you scornit,”says theLordof Hosts. “You bring stolen,lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands? ” asks theLord.

14 “The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord.For I am a great King,” says Yahweh of Hosts, “and My namewill be feared among the nations.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/MAL/1-04890cedf0f650a1d841f41c90197763.mp3?version_id=72—

Warning to the Priests

1 “Therefore, this decreeis for you priests:

2 If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heartto honor My name,” says Yahweh of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings.In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.

3 “Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants,and I will spread animal wasteover your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices,and you will be taken away with it.

4 Then you will know that I sent you this decree so My covenant with Levimay continue,” says theLordof Hosts.

5 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace,and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.

6 True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Mein peace and fairness and turned many from sin.

7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of theLordof Hosts.

8 “You, on the other hand, have turned from the way.You have caused many to stumbleby your instruction. You have violatedthe covenant of Levi,” says theLordof Hosts.

9 “So I in turn have made you despisedand humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in your instruction.”

Judah’s Marital Unfaithfulness

10 Don’t all of us have one Father?Didn’t one God create us?Why then do we act treacherously against one another,profaningthe covenant of our fathers?

11 Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestablething has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profanedtheLord’s sanctuary,which He loves,and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

12 To the man who does this, may theLordcut offany descendantsfrom the tents of Jacob, even if they present an offering to theLordof Hosts.

13 And this is another thing you do: you cover theLord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning,because He no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.

14 Yet you ask, “For what reason? ” Because theLordhas been a witnessbetween you and the wife of your youth.You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partnerand your wife by covenant.

15 Didn’t the one God make us with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek?A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully,and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth.

16 “If he hatesand divorces his wife,” says theLordGod of Israel, “hecovers his garment with injustice,”says theLordof Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully,and do not act treacherously.

Judgment at the Lord’s Coming

17 You have wearied theLordwith your words.

Yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him? ”

When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in theLord’s sight, and He is pleased with them,”or “Where is the God of justice? ”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/MAL/2-f5ad6792c14eaa377f76d5cf42ae419f.mp3?version_id=72—

1 “See, I am going to send My messenger,and he will clear the way before Me.Then the Lord you seekwill suddenly come to His temple,the Messenger of the covenant you desire — see, He is coming,” says theLordof Hosts.

2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears?For He will be like a refiner’s fireand like cleansing lye.

3 He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver.Then they will present offerings to theLordin righteousness.

4 And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please theLordas in days of oldand years gone by.

5 “I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and cheat the wage earner; and against those who deny justice to the foreigner.They do not fear Me,”says theLordof Hosts.

6 “Because I, Yahweh, have not changed,you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

Robbing God

7 “Since the days of your fathers, you have turned from My statutes; you have not kept them.Return to Me,and I will return to you,”says theLordof Hosts.

But you ask: “How can we return? ”

8 “Will a man robGod? Yet you are robbing Me! ”

You ask: “How do we rob You? ”

“By not making the payments of the tenth and the contributions.

9 You are suffering under a curse, yet you — the whole nation — are still robbing Me.

10 Bring the full tenth into the storehouseso that there may be food in My house.Test Me in this way,”says theLordof Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heavenand pour out a blessing for you without measure.

11 I will rebuke the devourerfor you, so that it will not ruin the produce of your land and your vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says theLordof Hosts.

12 “Then all the nations will consider you fortunate, for you will be a delightful land,” says theLordof Hosts.

The Righteous and the Wicked

13 “Your words against Me are harsh,”says theLord.

Yet you ask: “What have we spoken against You? ”

14 You have said: “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirementsand walking mournfullybefore theLordof Hosts?

15 So now we consider the arrogantto be fortunate.Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test Godand escape.”

16 At that time those who feared theLordspoke to one another. TheLordtook notice and listened. So a book of remembrancewas written before Him for those who feared Yahweh and had high regard for His name.

17 “They will be Mine,” says theLordof Hosts,“a special possession on the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.

18 So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/MAL/3-a81b5851be498be9ff698b5330917586.mp3?version_id=72—

The Day of the Lord

1 “For indeed, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says theLordof Hosts, “not leaving them root or branches.

2 But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings,and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.

3 You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says theLordof Hosts.

A Final Warning

4 “Remember the instruction of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horebfor all Israel.

5 Look, I am going to send you Elijah the prophetbefore the great and awesome Day of theLordcomes.

6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.Otherwise, I will come and strike the landwith a curse.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/MAL/4-ee454556cfb4ffd88285331b4199071d.mp3?version_id=72—