Book 39        Malachi

39:001:001 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.

39:001:002 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,

39:001:003 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage
           waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

39:001:004 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.

39:001:005 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be
           magnified from the border of Israel.

39:001:006 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?

39:001:007 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.

39:001:008 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.

39:001:009 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.

39:001:010 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.

39:001:011 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.

39:001:012 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.

39:001:013 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.

39:001:014 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.

39:002:001 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.

39:002:002 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.

39:002:003 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.

39:002:004 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you,
           that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

39:002:005 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.

39:002:006 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.

39:002:007 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.

39:002:008 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.

39:002:009 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.

39:002:010 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?

39:002:011 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.

39:002:012 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.

39:002:013 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.

39:002:014 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.

39:002:015 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.

39:002:016 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.

39:002:017 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?

39:003:001 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.

39:003:002 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:

39:003:003 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.

39:003:004 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant
           unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

39:003:005 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.

39:003:006 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob
           are not consumed.

39:003:007 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?

39:003:008 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein
           have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

39:003:009 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this
           whole nation.

39:003:010 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.

39:003:011 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.

39:003:012 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a
           delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

39:003:013 Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye
           say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

39:003:014 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?

39:003:015 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work
           wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even
           delivered.

39:003:016 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.

39:003:017 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.

39:003:018 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and
           the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth
           him not.

39:004:001 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.

39:004:002 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.

39:004:003 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.

39:004:004 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded
           unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and
           judgments.

39:004:005 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming
           of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

39:004:006 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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