11 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi .
12 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 .
13 And I hated Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage
waste for the dragons of the wilderness .
14 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 .
15 And your eyes shall see and ye shall say The LORD will be
magnified from the border of Israel .
16 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 .
17 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 .
18 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 .
19 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 .
110 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 .
111 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 .
112 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 .
113 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 .
114 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 .
* 21 And now O ye priests this commandment is for you .
22 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 .
23 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 .
24 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto
you that my covenant might be with Levi saith the LORD of hosts .
25 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 .
26 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 .
27 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 .
28 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 .
29 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 .
210 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 .
211 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 .
212 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 .
213 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 .
214 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 .
215 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 .
216 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 .
217 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 .
* 31 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 .
32 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 .
33 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 .
34 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant
unto the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years .
35 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 .
36 For I am the LORD I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed .
37 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 .
38 Will a man rob God Yet ye have robbed me But ye say Wherein
have we robbed thee In tithes and offerings .
39 Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this
whole nation .
310 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 .
311 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 .
312 And all nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a
delightsome land saith the LORD of hosts .
313 Your words have been stout against me saith the LORD Yet
ye say What have we spoken so much against thee .
314 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 .
315 And now we call the proud happy yea they that work
wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered
.
316 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 .
317 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 .
318 Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and
the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him
not .
* 41 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 .
42 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 .
43 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 .
44 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant which I commanded
unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments
.
45 Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the LORD .
46 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 .
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