Jonathan Malachi

The Message to Israel

1 The burden of the LORD’s message concerning Israel, delivered through Malachi, whose name is called Ezra the scribe.

Jacob and Esau

2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. “If you ask, ‘How have You loved us?’ wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” says the LORD. “Yet I loved Jacob. 3 But I rejected Esau. I made his mountains a wasteland and his inheritance a desolate wilderness.

4 “If the Edomites say, ‘We became poor, but we are rich again. We will return and rebuild the ruins,’ the LORD of hosts says this. ‘They may build, but I will demolish. People will call them the territory of a wicked people, the people the LORD has cursed forever.’ 5 Your own eyes will see it, and you will say, ‘The LORD’s glory is great. He has enlarged Israel’s territory.’”

The Priests and Their Offerings

6 “A son is told to honor his father, and a servant to fear his master. If I am like a father, where is your honor for Me? If I am like a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of hosts to you priests who despise His name. “If you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ 7 You bring an offensive offering to My altar. If you ask, ‘How have we rejected You?’ it is by saying, ‘The LORD’s table deserves contempt.’

8 “When you sacrifice a blind animal, isn’t that wrong? When you offer a lame or sick animal, isn’t that wrong? Try presenting it to your governor. Will he be pleased with you or treat you favorably?” says the LORD of hosts.

9 “Pray now before God, so that He will accept our prayer. This has come from your own hands. Will you be treated favorably?” says the LORD of hosts.

10 “Who among you will shut the doors of My sanctuary, so that you stop bringing offensive offerings to My altar? I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of hosts. “I will not accept an offering from your hands with favor. 11 From sunrise to sunset, My name is great among the nations. Whenever you do My will, I accept your prayers. Through you My great name is treated as holy, and your prayers are like a pure offering before Me. For My name is great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts.

12 “But you profane it by saying, ‘The LORD’s table deserves contempt, and the gifts from it deserve contempt too.’ 13 If you say, ‘Look what we have brought from our property!’ you have strangled it,” says the LORD of hosts. “You bring what was seized by force, or is lame or sick, and present it as an offering. Should I gladly accept it from your hands?” says the LORD.

14 “Cursed is the cheat who has a male animal in his flock and owes the fulfillment of a vow, but sacrifices a damaged animal before the LORD. For I am a great king,” says the LORD of hosts, “and My name is mighty among the nations.”

The Covenant With Levi

1 “Priests, this command is for you. 2 If you refuse to listen and do not take to heart the fear of Me, giving honor to My name,” says the LORD of hosts, “I will send the curse among you and curse your blessings. Yes, I will curse them, because you do not take the fear of Me to heart. 3 I am going to rebuke the crops from your fields. I will expose the shame of your sins on your faces. I will end the splendor of your festivals, and your portion will be withheld.

4 “You will know that I sent this command to you so that My covenant with Levi might stand,” says the LORD of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was life and peace. I gave him the complete teaching of My Torah. He feared Me, and stood in fear of My name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no deceit was found on his lips. He walked before Me in peace and integrity, and turned many away from sin. 7 A priest’s lips should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he serves before the LORD of hosts.

8 “But you have left the path. You have made many stumble through your instruction. You have ruined the covenant with Levi,” says the LORD of hosts. 9 So I have made you despised and weak before everyone, because you do not follow the paths that are right before Me, and you show favoritism in your instruction.”

Faithfulness in Marriage

10 Don’t we all have one father? Didn’t one God create us? Why then do we betray one another and profane the covenant with our ancestors? 11 The people of Judah have been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been done in Israel and Jerusalem. The people of Judah have profaned their own soul, which was holy before the LORD and which He loved. They have chosen to marry women from the daughters of the nations. 12 May the LORD leave the man who does this with neither son nor grandson in Jacob’s towns. If he is a priest, may he have no one to present an offering in the sanctuary of the LORD of hosts.

13 This is another thing you do. Tears cover the LORD’s altar, the tears of those who weep and sob, because He no longer turns to your offering or gladly accepts it from your hands. 14 If you ask, “Why?” it is because the LORD has testified between you and the wife of your youth. You have betrayed her, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

15 Wasn’t Abraham one man alone, from whom the world was made? What did that one man want, except for offspring to be established for him by the LORD? So guard yourselves, and do not betray the wife of your youth. 16 “If you hate her, divorce her,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “Do not hide sin in your clothing,” says the LORD of hosts. “Guard yourselves and do not act unfaithfully.”

The Coming Judgment

17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. If you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” it is by saying, “Everyone who does evil is right before the LORD, and He is pleased with them,” or, “Where is God carrying out justice?”

The Messenger of the Covenant

1 “I am sending a messenger to clear the road before Me. Suddenly the Lord you are seeking will enter His temple. The messenger of the covenant whom you desire is coming,” says the LORD of hosts. 2 Who can bear the day of His arrival? Who can stand when He appears? His anger melts like fire and is like soap used to make things clean. 3 He will appear to refine and cleanse, like someone who refines and cleanses silver. He will cleanse Levi’s descendants and purify them like gold and silver. They will present offerings before the LORD in righteousness. 4 Then the offerings of Judah’s people and Jerusalem’s inhabitants will be accepted before the LORD, as in ancient days and the years long past.

5 “I will appear against you to carry out judgment. My Memra will be a swift witness among you against sorcerers, adulterers, those who swear falsely, those who withhold a worker’s wages, who oppress widows and orphans, who deny justice to immigrants, and who do not fear Me,” says the LORD of hosts.

Return to the LORD

6 “I, the LORD, have not altered My ancient covenant. But you descendants of Jacob imagine that when someone dies in this world, his judgment comes to an end. 7 “Ever since your ancestors’ time you have turned from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to My service, and through My Memra I will turn to do you good,” says the LORD of hosts. “If you ask, ‘How should we return?’ 8 Would anyone provoke a judge? Yet you provoke Me. If you ask, ‘How have we provoked You?’ it is with tithes and contributions. 9 You are under a curse, yet you keep provoking Me, the whole nation of you.

10 “Bring all the tithes to the storehouse, so that those who serve in My sanctuary have provisions. Put Me to the test in this,” says the LORD of hosts. “See if I will not open heaven’s windows for you and send down blessings until you say, ‘Enough!’ 11 I will rebuke the destroyer on your behalf. It will not destroy the fruit of your land, and your vines in the fields will not fail to bear fruit,” says the LORD of hosts.

12 “All the nations will praise you, because you will live in the land of My Shekinah and do My will there,” says the LORD of hosts.

The Righteous and the Wicked

13 “Your words have been harsh against Me,” says the LORD. “If you ask, ‘What have we said so much against You?’ 14 You have said, ‘There is no benefit for anyone who serves the LORD. What profit have we gained from keeping the charge of His Memra and walking in humility before the LORD of hosts? 15 Instead, we praise the wicked. Those who do evil are secure. They even put the LORD to the test and escape.’”

16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD listened, and it was known before Him. It was written before Him in the book of records for those who feared the LORD and intended to honor His name.

17 “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day when I make a treasured possession. I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on a son who serves him. 18 You will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve the LORD and those who do not serve Him.

19 “The day is coming, burning like an oven. All the wicked and all who do evil will be as weak as straw. The coming day will consume them,” says the LORD of hosts. “It will leave them neither son nor grandson.

20 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in her wings. You will go out and leap like calves from the stall. 21 You will trample the wicked. They will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the LORD of hosts.

Moses and Elijah

22 “Remember the Torah of Moses My servant, whom I commanded at Horeb concerning all Israel to teach them statutes and judgments. 23 I am sending you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrifying day comes from the LORD. 24 He will turn parents’ hearts toward their children and children’s hearts toward their parents, so that I do not appear, find the whole land in its sins, and strike it with total destruction.”