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Yahweh's Love for Jacob

¹ The ^(F1)(C1)oracle of the word of ^(F2)Yahweh to ^(C2)Israel by the hand of ^(F3)Malachi.

² "I have ^(C1)loved you," says Yahweh. But you say, "How have You loved us?" "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares Yahweh. "Yet I ^(C2)have loved Jacob;³ but I have hated Esau, and I have ^(C1)set his mountains to be a desolation and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness."⁴ Though Edom says, "We have been ^(C1)demolished, but we will ^(F1)(C2)return and build up the waste places"; thus says Yahweh of hosts, "They may ^(C3)build, but I will pull down; and men will call them a ^(F2)territory of wickedness, and the people ^(F3)toward whom Yahweh is indignant ^(C4)forever."⁵ And your eyes will see this, and you will say, "^(C1)Yahweh ^(F1)be magnified beyond the ^(F2)territory of Israel!"

The Priests Defile Yahweh

⁶ "'A son ^(C1)honors his father, and a slave his master. Then if I am a ^(C2)father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is the fear of Me?' says Yahweh of hosts to you, O ^(C3)priests who despise My name. But you say, 'How have we despised Your name?'⁷ "You are presenting ^(C1)defiled ^(F1)(C2)food upon My altar. But you say, 'How have we defiled You?' In that you say, 'The ^(C3)table of Yahweh is to be despised.'⁸ "But when you present the ^(C1)blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Please, bring it near to your ^(C2)governor! Would he accept you? Or would he lift up your face?" says Yahweh of hosts.⁹ "But now, ^(F1)(C1)entreat God's favor, that He may be gracious to us! With this thing which is from your hand, will He ^(C2)lift up any of your faces?" says Yahweh of hosts.¹⁰ "Oh that there were one among you who would ^(C1)shut the ^(F1)gates, that you might not light a fire on My altar in vain! I have no delight in you," says Yahweh of hosts, "^(C2)nor will I accept an offering from your hand.¹¹ "For from the ^(C1)rising of the sun even to its setting, ^(C2)My name will be ^(C3)great among the nations, and in every place ^(C4)incense is going to be presented to My name, as well as a grain offering that is clean; for My name will be ^(C5)great among the nations," says Yahweh of hosts.¹² "But you are ^(C1)profaning it, in that you say, 'The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.'¹³ "You also say, 'Behold, how ^(C1)tiresome it is!' And you disdainfully sniff at it," says Yahweh of hosts, "and you bring what was taken by ^(C2)robbery and what is ^(C3)lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I ^(C4)accept that from your hand?" says Yahweh.¹⁴ "But cursed be the ^(C1)swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a ^(F1)(C2)blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great ^(C3)King," says Yahweh of hosts, "and My name is ^(F2)(C4)feared among the ^(F3)nations."