VIN(i)
1 An oracle. The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.
2 I have loved you, says the LORD. Yet you say, How have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, says the LORD. Yet I loved Jacob,
3 rejected Esau, turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to desert jackals.
4 Even though Edom may claim, 'We were crushed, but we will return and rebuild the ruins,' this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "They may rebuild, but I'll demolish. People will call them 'The Wicked Land,' and 'The People With Whom the LORD is Forever Angry.'
5 Your own eyes will see this, and you will say 'Great is the LORD even beyond the borders of Israel!'"
6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the LORD of hosts to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?'
7 By presenting defiled food on my altar. And you ask 'How have we defiled you?' By saying 'The Table of the LORD is contemptible.'
8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Offer that to your governor would he be pleased with you or receive you favorably?" asks the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.
9 "Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?" says the LORD of hosts.
10 "Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors and not light useless fires on the altar! I'm not pleased with you," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "and I'll accept no offerings from you.
11 For from the east to the west, My name shall be great among the nations, and everywhere incense shall be offered to My name; and a pure food offering; for My name shall be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.
12 "But you profane it, in that you say, 'The LORD's table is defiled, and its fruit, its food, is despised.'
13 "And you say 'What a burden!' and sniff contemptuously at it," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "when you present maimed, crippled, and diseased animals, and when you bring the offering. Should I accept this from your hand?" asks the LORD.
14 "Cursed is the one who cheats, who has in his flock a male and vows it, but instead sacrifices a blemished one to the Lord! For I am a great king," says the LORD of hosts, "and my name is awesome among the nations."