MALACHI. 2 THE 'burden of the word of the LORD to 'Or, oracle Israel by 'Malachi. 2 Or, my messenger 3 Or, Is not Esau...? yet 4 have loved Edom say I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I 3 loved Jacob; but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to 4 the jackals of the wilderness. Whereas Edom Or, Though saith, We are 'beaten down, but we will return & Or, as and build the waste places; thus saith the LORD otherwise of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw read, down and men shall call them The border of wickedness, and The people against whom the 5 LORD hath indignation for ever. And your impoverished 6 eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD 'be Or, is great 6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant 7 Or, over 1 1 Heb. from your hand. 2 Or, accept you 4 Or, incense sick, it is no evil! Present it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee? or will he accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. And now, I pray you, intreat the favour of 9 God, that he may be gracious unto us: this hath been 'by your means: will he accept any of your persons? saith the LORD of hosts. Oh 10 any because of that there were one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the 11 rising of the sun even unto the going down 3 Or, shall be of the same my name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye profane it, in that ye 12 say, The table of the LORD is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. Ye 13 say also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye have brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye bring the offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD. But cursed be the 14 deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a blemished thing: for I am a great king, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is terrible among the Gentiles. And now, O ye priests, this commandment 1 2 is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will 2 not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, then will I send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke 3 4 'the seed for your sake, and will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your 2sacrifices; and ye shall be taken away with it. And shall know that I have sent this comye mandment unto you, that my covenant might 5 be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might fear, and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name. 6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and did turn 7 many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger 8 of the LORD of hosts. But ye are turned aside out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble in the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have had respect of persons in the law. ΙΟ sanctuary Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the I covenant of our fathers? Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he Or, loveth, and hath married the daughter of a 12 strange god. The LORD will cut off to the man that doeth this him that waketh and him that answereth, out of the tents of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of 13 hosts. And this again ye do: ye cover the Or, a second altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he regardeth time 1 Or, And not So who had a one hath done so not the offering any more, neither receiveth it with good will at your hand. Yet ye say, 14 Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did he not make one, 15 although he had the residue of the spirit? And wherefore one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal one that seeketh treacherously against the wife of his youth. For 16 "I hate putting away, saith the LORD, the God of Israel, and him that covereth his garment with violence, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. residue of the what? is there spirit. Or a godly seed? 2 Heb. he hateth. 3 Or, even 3 I Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. 17 Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or where is the God of judgement? Be- 1 3 hold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple; and the 'messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he cometh, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day 2 of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: and he shall sit as a refiner 3 and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto the LORD offerings in righteousness. Then shall the offering of + Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. And I will come near to you to judgement; and 5 I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers; and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of 6 hosts. For I the LORD change not; therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers ye have turned aside from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But 8 ye say, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? yet ye rob me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and 'offer- Heb. heave offerings. 9 ings. Ye are cursed with the curse; for ye 10 rob me, even this whole nation. Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room I enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, 12 saith the LORD of hosts. And all nations shall call you happy for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. 13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein have we 14 spoken against thee? Ye have said, It is vain. to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked 15 'mournfully before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are built up; yea, they tempt 16 God, and are delivered. Then they that feared the LORD spake one with another and the Or, in unins mourning apparel |