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¹ THE vision of the words of the LORD concerning Israel by Malachi.² I have loved you, says the LORD. But you say, In what way hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacobs brother? says the LORD; yet I have loved Jacob, and I have not favored Esau;³ And I have made his mountains waste and his heritage for camps of shepherds in the wilderness.⁴ And if the Edomites say, We are impoverished, but let us return and build the desolate places; thus says the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will demolish; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness and, The people against whom the LORD is angry for ever.⁵ And your eyes shall see it, and you shall say, The LORD will be magnified beyond the border of Israel.

⁶ A son honors his father, and a servant his master; if then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. And if you say, In what have we despised thy name?⁷ In that you offer polluted bread upon my altar; and if you say, In what have we polluted it? In that you say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.⁸ And when you offer a blind animal to the altar, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick animals, is it not evil? Offer it now to your governor; will he be pleased with you or accept your person? says the LORD of hosts.⁹ And now, pray before the LORD that he may be gracious to us for this disaster has been brought by your means; I will not regard your persons, says the LORD of hosts.¹⁰ Who is there among you who would guard my doors or offer on my altar for nothing? I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering from your hand.¹¹ For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place they burn incense and offer to my name pure offerings; for my name is great among the Gentiles, says the LORD of hosts.¹² But you are profaning it, in that you say, The table of the LORD is polluted and its food is contemptible.¹³ And you say, This is because we are miserable; and I have sniffed at it, says the LORD of hosts; for you bring offerings that are taken by violence, the lame and the sick; I will not accept them from your hands, says the LORD.¹⁴ Cursed be he who has in his flock a ram, and vows and sacrifices for the LORD that which is sick; for I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreaded among the Gentiles.