1. An oracle: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.
2. "I have loved you," says the LORD. But you ask: "How have You loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" [This is] the LORD'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 rebuild the ruins," the LORD of Hosts says this: "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country and the people the LORD has cursed forever.
5. Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say: The LORD is great, [even] beyond the borders of Israel.
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 the LORD 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: "The LORD'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 the LORD of 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 the LORD of 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 the LORD of Hosts, "and I will accept no offering from your hands.
11. "For My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name in every place because My name will be great among the nations," says the LORD 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 scorn it," says the LORD of Hosts. "You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?" asks the LORD.
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 the LORD of Hosts, "and My name will be feared among the nations.