The Hebrew Prophets

The burden of a word of Jehovah unto Israel by the hand of Malachi:

I have loved you, said Jehovah, And ye have said, `In what hast Thou loved us?'

Is not Esau Jacob's brother? --an affirmation of Jehovah, And I love Jacob, and Esau I have hated, And I make his mountains a desolation, And his inheritance for dragons of a wilderness.

Because Edom saith, `We have been made poor, And we turn back and we build the wastes,' Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: They do build, and I do destroy, And men have called to them, `O region of wickedness,' `O people whom Jehovah defied to the age.'

And your eyes do see, and ye say, `Magnified is Jehovah beyond the border of Israel,

A son honoureth a father, and a servant his master. And if I am a father, where is Mine honour? And if I am a master, where is My fear? Said Jehovah of Hosts to you, O priests, despising My name! And ye have said: `In what have we despised Thy name?'

Ye are bringing nigh on Mine altar polluted bread, And ye have said: `In what have we polluted Thee?' In your saying: `The table of Jehovah--it is despicable,'

And when ye bring nigh the blind for sacrifice, `There is no evil,' And when ye bring nigh the lame and sick, `There is no evil;' Bring it near, I pray thee, to thy governor--Doth he accept thee? or doth he lift up thy face? Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And now, appease, I pray thee, the face of God, And He doth favour us; From your own hand hath this been, Doth He accept of you appearances? Said Jehovah of Hosts.

Who is even among you, And he shutteth the two-leaved doors? Yea, ye do not kindle Mine altar for nought, I have no pleasure in you, said Jehovah of Hosts, And a present I do not accept of your hand.

For, from the rising of the sun to its going in, Great is My name among nations, And in every place perfume is brought nigh to My name, and a pure present, For great is My name among nations, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And ye are polluting it in your saying, `The table of Jehovah--it is polluted, As to its fruit--despicable is its food.'

And ye have said, `Lo, what a weariness,' And ye have puffed at it, said Jehovah of Hosts, And ye have brought in plunder, And the lame and the sick, And ye have brought in the present! Do I accept it from your hand? said Jehovah.

And cursed is a deceiver, who hath in his drove a male, And is vowing, and is sacrificing a marred thing to the Lord, For a great king am I, said Jehovah of Hosts, And My name is revered among nations!

And now, to you is this charge, O priests,

If ye hearken not, and if ye lay it not to heart, To give honour to My name, said Jehovah of Hosts, I have sent against you the curse, And I have cursed your blessings, Yea, I have also cursed it, Because ye are not laying it to heart.

Lo, I am pushing away before you the seed, And have scattered dung before your faces, Dung of your festivals, And it hath taken you away with it.

And ye have known that I have sent unto you this charge, For My covenant being with Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

My covenant hath been with him of life and of peace, And I make them to him a fear, and he doth fear Me, And because of My name he hath been affrighted.

The law of truth hath been in his mouth, And perverseness hath not been found in his lips, In peace and in uprightness he walked with Me, And many he brought back from iniquity.

For the lips of a priest preserve knowledge, And law they do seek from his mouth, For a messenger of Jehovah of Hosts he is .

And ye, ye have turned from the way, Ye have caused many to stumble in the law, Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And I also, I have made you despised and low before all the people, Because ye are not keeping My ways, And are accepting persons in the law.

Have we not all one father? Hath not our God prepared us? Wherefore do we deal treacherously, Each against his brother, To pollute the covenant of our fathers?

Dealt treacherously hath Judah, And abomination hath been done in Israel, and in Jerusalem, For polluted hath Judah the holy thing of Jehovah, That He hath loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.