Bible Gateway passage: Malachi 1 - New International Version (2024)

1A prophecy:^(A) The word^(B) of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.^[a]

Israel Doubts God’s Love

²“I have loved^(C) you,” says the Lord.

“But you ask,^(D) ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,^{(E) 3}but Esau I have hated,^(F) and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland^(G) and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.^(H)”

⁴Edom^(I) may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild^(J) the ruins.”

But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish.^(K) They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.^{(L) 5}You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great^(M) is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’^(N)

Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices

⁶“A son honors his father,^(O) and a slave his master.^(P) If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect^(Q) due me?” says the Lord Almighty.^(R)

“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.

“But you ask,^(S) ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’

⁷“By offering defiled food^(T) on my altar.

“But you ask,^(U) ‘How have we defiled you?’

“By saying that the Lord’s table^(V) is contemptible. ⁸When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals,^(W) is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased^(X) with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.^(Y)

⁹“Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings^(Z) from your hands, will he accept^(AA) you?”—says the Lord Almighty.

¹⁰“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors,^(AB) so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased^(AC) with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept^(AD) no offering^(AE) from your hands. ¹¹My name will be great^(AF) among the nations,^(AG) from where the sun rises to where it sets.^(AH) In every place incense^(AI) and pure offerings^(AJ) will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.

¹²“But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table^(AK) is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food^(AL) is contemptible.’ ¹³And you say, ‘What a burden!’^(AM) and you sniff at it contemptuously,^(AN)” says the Lord Almighty.

“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices,^(AO) should I accept them from your hands?”^(AP) says the Lord. ¹⁴“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal^(AQ) to the Lord. For I am a great king,^(AR)” says the Lord Almighty,^(AS) “and my name is to be feared^(AT) among the nations.^(AU)

Footnotes

1. Malachi 1:1 Malachi means my messenger.

Cross references

1. Malachi 1:1 : S Na 1:1
2. Malachi 1:1 : Ac 7:38; Ro 3:1-2; 1Pe 4:11
3. Malachi 1:2 : S Dt 4:37
4. Malachi 1:2 : ver 6, 7; Mal 2:14, 17; 3:7, 13
5. Malachi 1:2 : S Jer 46:27; Ro 9:13*
6. Malachi 1:3 : Lk 14:26
7. Malachi 1:3 : S Isa 34:10
8. Malachi 1:3 : S Isa 13:22
9. Malachi 1:4 : S Isa 11:14; S 34:11
10. Malachi 1:4 : Isa 9:10
11. Malachi 1:4 : S Isa 34:5
12. Malachi 1:4 : S La 4:22; S Eze 25:12-14; S 26:14
13. Malachi 1:5 : Ps 35:27; 48:1; Mic 5:4
14. Malachi 1:5 : Isa 45:22; 52:10; S Am 1:11-12
15. Malachi 1:6 : S Lev 20:9; Mt 15:4; 23:9
16. Malachi 1:6 : Lk 6:46
17. Malachi 1:6 : S Dt 31:12; S Isa 1:2
18. Malachi 1:6 : Job 5:17
19. Malachi 1:6 : S ver 2
20. Malachi 1:7 : ver 12; Lev 21:6
21. Malachi 1:7 : S ver 2
22. Malachi 1:7 : S Eze 23:41
23. Malachi 1:8 : S Lev 1:3; S Dt 15:21
24. Malachi 1:8 : S Ge 32:20
25. Malachi 1:8 : S Isa 43:23
26. Malachi 1:9 : Lev 23:33-44; Ps 51:17; Mic 6:6-8; Ro 12:1; Heb 13:16
27. Malachi 1:9 : S Jer 6:20
28. Malachi 1:10 : 2Ch 28:24
29. Malachi 1:10 : S Hos 5:6
30. Malachi 1:10 : Lev 22:20
31. Malachi 1:10 : ver 13; Isa 1:11-14; Jer 14:12; Mal 2:12
32. Malachi 1:11 : S Isa 24:15; 56:6
33. Malachi 1:11 : S Isa 6:3; S 12:4
34. Malachi 1:11 : S Ps 113:3; S Mt 8:11
35. Malachi 1:11 : Isa 60:6-7; Rev 5:8; 8:3
36. Malachi 1:11 : S Isa 19:21; Heb 13:15
37. Malachi 1:12 : S Eze 41:22
38. Malachi 1:12 : S ver 7
39. Malachi 1:13 : Isa 43:22-24
40. Malachi 1:13 : S Nu 14:11
41. Malachi 1:13 : S ver 10
42. Malachi 1:13 : S Dt 15:21
43. Malachi 1:14 : Ex 12:5; S Lev 22:18-21
44. Malachi 1:14 : Ps 95:3; S Ob 1:21; 1Ti 6:15
45. Malachi 1:14 : Jer 46:18
46. Malachi 1:14 : S Dt 28:58
47. Malachi 1:14 : Ps 72:8-11