1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of his messenger. Take this to heart, I pray.
2 I have loved
you, says the Lord. And you said, How have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? Says the
Lord: yet I loved Jacob,
3 and hated
Esau and laid waste his borders, and made his heritage as dwellings of the wilderness?
4 Because one
will say, Idumea has been overthrown, but let us return and rebuild the desolate places; thus says
the Lord Almighty, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall be called The borders of
wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord has set himself for ever.
5 And your
eyes shall see, and you shall say, The Lord has been magnified upon the borders 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 Almighty. You the priests are they that despise My
name: yet you said, In what way have we despised Your name?
7 In that you
bring to My altar polluted bread; and you said, In what way have we polluted it? In that you say,
The table of the Lord is polluted, and that which was set on it you have despised.
8 For if you
bring a blind victim for sacrifices, is it not evil? And
if you bring the lame or the sick, is it not evil? Offer it now to your ruler, and see if he will receive you, if he will
accept your person, says the Lord Almighty.
9 And now
entreat the face of your God, and make supplication to Him. These things have been done by your
hands; shall I accept you? Says the Lord Almighty.
10 Because
even among you the doors shall be shut, and one will not kindle the
fire of My altar for nothing, I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not
accept a sacrifice at your hands.
11 For from
the rising of the sun even to the going down thereof My name has been glorified among the Gentiles;
and in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure offering: for My name is great among
the Gentiles, says the Lord Almighty.
12 But you
profane it, in that you say, The table of the Lord is polluted, and His foods set on it are
despised.
13 And you
said, These services are troublesome: therefore I have
utterly rejected them with scorn, says the Lord Almighty: and you brought in torn victims, and lame,
and sick: if then you should bring an offering, shall I accept them at your hands? Says the Lord
Almighty.
14 And cursed
is the man who had the power, and possessed a male in his
flock, and whose vow is upon him, and who sacrifices a corrupt thing to the Lord: for I am a great
King, says the Lord Almighty, and My name is glorious among the nations.