(1.1) The oracle of THE LORD to Israel by the hand of Malachi.
(1.2) I have loved you, said THE LORD, and you say, In what way have you loved us? Is not Esau a brother to Jacob?—the prophecy of THE LORD—but I have loved Jacob,
(1.3) and Esau I have hated. I have made his mountains a desolation, and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.
(1.4) For Edom will say, We were trampled, but we will return, and we will build the ruins. Thus has said THE LORD of Hosts, They will build, and I myself will destroy, and they will call them Territory of Wickedness and The People With Whom the Lord is Angry Forever.
(1.5) And your eyes will see, and you will say, The Lord will be great over the border of Israel.
(1.6) Son will honor father, and slave his lord. And if a Father I am, where is My honor? And if a Lord I am, where is My fear? has said THE LORD of Hosts to you, the priests despising My name. And you will say, In what way have we despised Your name?
(1.7) Bringing to My altar polluted bread. And you will say, In what way have we polluted You? In your saying, The table of the Lord, it may be despised.
(1.8) And if you bring a blind (animal) to sacrifice, is there no evil? And if you bring a lame, or ill, is there no evil? Do bring it to your governor. Will he be pleased with you, or will he lift up your face (or ‘show you favor’)? has said THE LORD of Hosts.
(1.9) And now, do entreat the face of God, and He will be gracious to us. From your hand has this been. Will He lift any of your faces (or ‘show any of you favor’)? has said THE LORD of Hosts.
(1.10) Who is also among you, and will close the two doors, and never light My altar wrongly? I have no delight in you, has said THE LORD of Hosts, and an offering I will not delight in from your hands.
(1.11) For from the rising of the sun and to its setting, great is My Name among the nations, and in every place incense is brought for My Name, and a pure offering, for great is My Name among the nations, has said THE LORD of Hosts.
(1.12) And you are cursing it, in your saying, The table of my Lord, it and its produce, is polluted; its food may be despised.
(1.13) And you will say, Behold, what a plague! And you disdain it, has said THE LORD of Hosts. And you will bring the stolen and the lame and the sick, and you will bring the offering. Will I be pleased with it from your hand? has said THE LORD.
(1.14) And cursed is the cheating one: for there is in his flock a male, but he is vowing and sacrificing the weak to my Lord. For a Great King am I, has said THE LORD of Hosts, and My Name is terrifying among the nations.
(2.1) And now, for you, the priests, is this commandment.
(2.2) If you will not hear, and if you will not set your heart to give glory to My Name, has said THE LORD of Hosts, then I will send among you the curse, and I will curse your blessings; and I have indeed cursed it, for you have not set (it) upon your heart.
(2.3) Behold Me rebuking your seed: and I will spread dung on your faces, the dung of your festivals, and He will take you to Him.
(2.4) And you will know that I have sent to you this commandment, for My covenant to be with Levi, has said THE LORD of Hosts.
(2.5) My covenant was with him, of life and of peace, and I have given them to him fearsomely, and he feared Me and before My Name was he terrified.
(2.6) Instruction (or Law תורת) of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was never found on his lips. In peace and in uprightness he had walked with Me, and many had he turned from wickedness.
(2.7) For the lips of the priest will guard knowledge, and instruction (or Law תורה) will they seek from his mouth, for a messenger (or angel מלאך) of THE LORD of Hosts is he.
(2.8) And you have turned aside from the way. You have made many stumble in instruction (or in the Law בַתורה). You have ruined the covenant of Levi, has said THE LORD of Hosts.
(2.9) And further I have made you despised and humiliated to all the people, as you are not guarding the way, and are lifting faces (or ‘showing favor’) in instruction.
(2.10) Is there not one Father for all of us? Has not one God created us? Why will we be treacherous, a man with his brother, to curse the covenant of our fathers?
(2.11) Judah has been treacherous, and abomination has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has cursed the Holy (Place) of THE LORD, which He has loved, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
(2.12) May THE LORD cut off the man that will do it, protector or advocate, from the tents of Jacob, and who brings an offering to THE LORD of Hosts.
(2.13) And this second thing you will do: cover with tears the altar of THE LORD, weeping and crying for there is no more (of Him) turning to the offering, or to take delight from your hand.
(2.14) And you will say, For what? For THE LORD has testified between you and the wife of your youth, that you have acted treacherously with her, for she is your friend and the wife of your covenant.
(2.15) For has not One made, and the rest is spirit to Him? And what does the One seek? A seed of God. So guard yourselves in your spirit, with the wife of your youth let none deal treacherously.
(2.16) For (I) hate sending away (or ‘divorce’), has said THE LORD God of Israel, and covering his clothing in violence, has said THE LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and never act treacherously.
(2.17) You have wearied THE LORD with your words, and you will say, In what have we wearied Him? In your saying, Each doing evil is good in the eyes of THE LORD, and in them He delights, or, Where is the God of judgment?
(3.1) Behold Me sending My messenger (or ‘angel’). And he will prepare a way before Me, and suddenly He will come to His temple: the Lord whom you are seeking. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you are delighting, behold, He is coming, has said THE LORD of Hosts.
(3.2) And who is enduring the day of His coming? And who is the one standing at His appearance? For He is like a refining fire, and the lye of washers.
(3.3) And He will sit, one refining and purifying silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi, and cleanse them like the gold and like the silver, and they will be for THE LORD those bringing the offering in righteousness.
(3.4) And it will be acceptable to THE LORD, the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in days of old, and as in former years.
(3.5) And I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be a ready witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the swearers of the lie, and against the extortionists of the hire of the hired, widow, and orphan, and rejectors of a foreigner, and have never feared Me, has said THE LORD of Hosts.
(3.6) For I, THE LORD, never have changed. And you, sons of Jacob, have not ceased (to change).
(3.7) For from the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes, and never guarded them. Turn back to Me, and I will turn back to you, has said THE LORD of Hosts. And you will say, In what way shall we turn back?
(3.8) Will a man rob God? For you are robbing Me. And you will say, In what way have we robbed You? The tithes and the lift-offering.
(3.9) With a curse you are cursed, for Me are you robbing, the entire nation.
(3.10) Bring all the tithe to the House of the Treasure, and let there be food in My house. And do put Me to the test in this, has said THE LORD of Hosts, (and see) if I will not open to you the windows of the heavens, and I will pour out for you blessing without measure.
(3.11) And I will rebuke for you the devourer, and it will not destroy your fruit of the ground, and will not make childless your vine in the field, has said THE LORD of Hosts.
(3.12) And they will call you blessed, all the nations, for you will be a land of delight, has said THE LORD of Hosts.
(3.13) Strong against Me have been your words, has said THE LORD, and you will say, What have we spoken against You?
(3.14) You have said, Vain is serving God, and, What profit, that we have guarded His charge, and that we have walked mournfully before THE LORD of Hosts?
(3.15) And, Now we consider insolent ones blessed; also, Built-up are doers of wickedness; also, They have tested God and have escaped.
(3.16) Then spoke together those fearing THE LORD, a man to his companion, and THE LORD paid attention and He heard, and a Book of Remembrance was written before Him for those fearing THE LORD, and for those thinking of His name.
(3.17) And they will be Mine, has said THE LORD of Hosts, for the day which I am making, a possession; and I will spare them as a man spares his son who is serving him.
(3.18) And you will turn back, and you will see (the difference) between the righteous one and the wicked one, between the one serving God and the one who never has served Him.
(4.1) For behold, the day is coming, burning like the oven, and all the insolent ones and everyone doing wickedness will be stubble, and the coming day will set them ablaze, has said THE LORD of Hosts, which will not leave to them root or branch.
(4.2) And for you fearing My name will rise the sun of righteousness, and healing is in its wings, and you will go out and frolic like calves of the stall.
(4.3) And you will trample the wicked ones, for they will be ash under your feet, in the day that I am making, has said THE LORD of Hosts.
(4.4) Remember the instruction (or Law) of Moses my servant, that I have commanded him in Horeb upon all Israel, statutes and judgments.
(4.5) Behold, I am sending to you Elijah the Prophet before the great and the terrible day of THE LORD comes.
(4.6) And he will turn back the heart of fathers to sons, and the heart of sons to their fathers. Lest I come and I strike the earth with a vow of destruction (חרם).