Malachi:1-4

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi . * 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 loved Jacob , * And I hated Esau , and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness . * Whereas Edom saith , We are impoverished , but we will return and build the desolate places ; thus saith the LORD of hosts , They shall build , but I will throw down ; and they shall call them , The border of wickedness , and , The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever . * And your eyes shall see , and ye shall say , The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel . * A son honoureth his father , and a servant his master : if then I be a father , where is mine honour ? and if I be a master , where is my fear ? saith the LORD of hosts unto you , O priests , that despise my name . And ye say , Wherein have we despised thy name ? * Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar ; and ye say , Wherein have we polluted thee ? In that ye say , The table of the LORD is contemptible . * And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice , is it not evil ? and if ye offer the lame and sick , is it not evil ? offer it now unto thy governor ; will he be pleased with thee , or accept thy person ? saith the LORD of hosts . * And now , I pray you , beseech God that he will be gracious unto us : this hath been by your means : will he regard your persons ? saith the LORD of hosts . * Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought ? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought . I have no pleasure in you , saith the LORD of hosts , neither will I accept an offering at your hand . * For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles ; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name , and a pure offering : for my name shall be great among the heathen , saith the LORD of hosts . * But ye have profaned it , in that ye say , The table of the LORD is polluted ; and the fruit thereof , even his meat , is contemptible . * Ye said also , Behold , what a weariness is it ! and ye have snuffed at it , saith the LORD of hosts ; and ye brought that which was torn , and the lame , and the sick ; thus ye brought an offering : should I accept this of your hand ? saith the LORD . * But cursed be the deceiver , which hath in his flock a male , and voweth , and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing : for I am a great King , saith the LORD of hosts , and my name is dreadful among the heathen . * And now , O ye priests , this commandment is for you . * If ye will not hear , and if ye will not lay it to heart , to give glory unto my name , saith the LORD of hosts , I will even send a 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 corrupt your seed , and spread dung upon your faces , even the dung of your solemn feasts ; and one shall take you away with it . * And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you , that my covenant might be with Levi , saith the LORD of hosts . * My covenant was with him of life and peace ; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me , and was afraid before my name . * The law of truth was in his mouth , and iniquity was not found in his lips : he walked with me in peace and equity , and did turn 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 of the LORD of hosts . * But ye are departed out of the way ; ye have caused many to stumble at the law ; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi , saith the LORD of hosts . * Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people , according as ye have not kept my ways , but have been partial in the law . * Have we not all one father ? hath not one God created us ? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother , by profaning the 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 loved , and hath married the daughter of a strange god . * The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this , the master and the scholar , out of the tabernacles of Jacob , and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts . * And this have ye done again , covering the altar of the LORD with tears , with weeping , and with crying out , insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more , or receiveth it with good will at your hand . * Yet ye say , Wherefore ? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth , against whom thou hast dealt treacherously : yet is she thy companion , and the wife of thy covenant . * And did not he make one ? Yet had he the residue of the spirit . And wherefore one ? That he might seek a godly seed . Therefore take heed to your spirit , and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth . * For the LORD , the God of Israel , saith that he hateth putting away : for one covereth violence with his garment , saith the LORD of hosts : therefore take heed to your spirit , that ye deal not treacherously . * Ye have wearied the LORD with your words . Yet ye say , Wherein have we wearied him ? When 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 judgment ? * Behold , I will send my messenger , and he shall prepare the way before me : and the Lord , whom ye seek , shall suddenly come to his temple , even the messenger of the covenant , whom ye delight in : behold , he shall come , saith the LORD of hosts . * But who may abide the day 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 and purifier of silver : and he shall purify the sons of Levi , and purge them as gold and silver , that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness . * Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD , as in the days of old , and as in former years . * And I will come near to you to judgment ; and 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 hosts . * For I am the LORD , I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed . * Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances , and have not kept them . Return unto me , and I will return unto you , saith the LORD of hosts . But ye said , Wherein shall we return ? * Will a man rob God ? Yet ye have robbed me . But ye say , Wherein have we robbed thee ? In tithes and offerings . * Ye are cursed with a curse : for ye have robbed me , even this whole nation . * Bring ye all the tithes 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 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 , saith the LORD of hosts . * And all nations shall call you blessed : for ye shall be a delightsome land , saith the LORD of hosts . * Your words have been stout against me , saith the LORD . Yet ye say , What have we spoken so much against thee ? * Ye have said , It is vain to serve God : and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance , and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts ? * And now we call the proud happy ; yea , they that work wickedness are set up ; yea , they that tempt God are even delivered . * Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another : and the LORD hearkened , and heard it , and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD , and that thought upon his name . * And they shall be mine , saith the LORD of hosts , in that day when I make up my jewels ; and I will spare them , as a man spareth his own son that serveth him . * Then shall ye return , and discern between the righteous and the wicked , between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not . * For , behold , the day cometh , that shall burn as an oven ; and all the proud , yea , and all that do wickedly , shall be stubble : and the day that cometh shall burn them up , saith the LORD of hosts , that it shall leave them neither root nor branch . * But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings ; and ye shall go forth , and grow up as calves of the stall . * And ye shall tread down the wicked ; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this , saith the LORD of hosts . * Remember ye the law of Moses my servant , which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel , with the statutes and judgments . * Behold , I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD : * And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children , and the heart of the children to their fathers , lest I come and smite the earth with a curse .

---