Bible (Literal Standard Version)/Malachi

Chapter 1
The burden of a word of YHWH to Israel by the hand of Malachi: "I have loved you, said YHWH, || And you have said, || In what have You loved us? Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" A declaration of YHWH, || "And I love Jacob, and Esau I have hated, || And I make his mountains a desolation, || And his inheritance for dragons of a wilderness. Because Edom says, We have been made poor, || And we return and we build the ruins, || Thus said YHWH of Hosts: They build, and I destroy, || And [men] have called to them, || O region of wickedness, || O people whom YHWH defied for all time. And your eyes see, and you say, || YHWH is magnified beyond the border of Israel, A son honors a father, and a servant his master. And if I [am] a father, where [is] My glory? And if I [am] a master, where [is] My fear? Said YHWH of Hosts to you, || O priests, despising My Name! And you have said, In what have we despised Your Name? You are bringing defiled bread near on My altar, || And you have said, In what have we defiled You? In your saying, The table of YHWH—it [is] despicable, And when you bring the blind near for sacrifice, [saying], || There is no evil, || And when you bring the lame and sick near, [saying], || There is no evil; Now bring it near to your governor—Does he accept you? Or does he lift up your face?" said YHWH of Hosts. "And now, please appease the face of God, || And He favors us; This has been from your own hand, || Does He accept your faces?" said YHWH of Hosts. "Who [is] even among you, || And he shuts the double doors? Indeed, you do not kindle My altar for nothing, || I have no pleasure in you," said YHWH of Hosts, || "And I do not accept a present of your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its going in, || Great [is] My Name among nations, || And in every place incense is brought near for My Name, and a pure present, || For great [is] My Name among nations," said YHWH of Hosts. "And you are defiling it in your saying, || The table of YHWH—it is defiled, || As for its fruit—its food is despicable. And you have said, Behold, what a weariness, || And you have puffed at it," said YHWH of Hosts, || "And you have brought in plunder, || And the lame and the sick, || And you have brought in the present! Do I accept it from your hand?" said YHWH. "And a deceiver [is] cursed, who has in his drove a male, || And is vowing, and is sacrificing a marred thing to the Lord, || For I [am] a great King," said YHWH of Hosts, || "And My Name [is] revered among nations!"

Chapter 2
"And now, to you [is] this charge, O priests, If you do not listen, and if you do not lay [it] to heart, || To give glory to My Name," said YHWH of Hosts, || "I have sent the curse against you, || And I have cursed your blessings, || Indeed, I have also cursed it, || Because you are not laying [it] to heart. Behold, I am pushing away the seed before you, || And have scattered dung before your faces, || Dung of your festivals, || And it has taken you away with it. And you have known that I have sent this charge to you, || For My covenant being with Levi," said YHWH of Hosts. "My covenant has been of life and of peace with him, || And I make them a fear to him, and he fears Me, || And because of My Name he has been frightened. The law of truth has been in his mouth, || And perverseness has not been found in his lips, || In peace and in uprightness he walked with Me, || And he brought back many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest preserve knowledge, || And they seek law from his mouth, || For he [is] a messenger of YHWH of Hosts. And you, you have turned from the way, || You have caused many to stumble in the Law, || You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," said YHWH of Hosts. "And I also, I have made you despised and low before all the people, || Because you are not keeping My ways, || And are accepting by superficial things in the Law." Have we not all one Father? Has not our God created us? Why do we deal treacherously, || Each against his brother, || To defile the covenant of our fathers? Judah has dealt treacherously, || And abomination has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem, || For Judah has defiled the holy thing of YHWH that He has loved, || And has married the daughter of a strange god. YHWH cuts off the man who does it, || Tempter and tempted—from the tents of Jacob, || Even he who is bringing a present near to YHWH of Hosts. And you do this a second time, || Covering the altar of YHWH with tears, || With weeping and groaning, || Because there is no more turning to the present, || Or receiving of a pleasing thing from your hand. And you have said, "Why?" Because YHWH has testified between you || And the wife of your youth, || That you have dealt treacherously against her, || And she [is] your companion, and your covenant-wife. And He did not make one [only], || And a remnant of the Spirit [is] for him. And what [is] the one [alone]! He is seeking a godly seed. And you have been watchful over your spirit, || And with the wife of your youth, || None deal treacherously. "For He hates sending away," said YHWH, God of Israel, || "And he [who] has covered violence with his clothing," said YHWH of Hosts, || "And you have been watchful over your spirit, || And you do not deal treacherously." You have wearied YHWH with your words, || And you have said, "In what have we wearied Him?" In your saying, "Every evildoer [is] good in the eyes of YHWH, || And He is delighting in them," || Or, "Where [is] the God of judgment?"

Chapter 3
"Behold, I am sending My messenger, || And he has prepared a way before Me, || And suddenly the Lord whom you are seeking comes into His temple, || Even the Messenger of the Covenant, || Whom you are desiring, || Behold, He is coming," said YHWH of Hosts. "And who is bearing the day of His coming? And who is standing in His appearing? For He [is] as fire of a refiner, || And as soap of a fuller. And He has sat, a refiner and purifier of silver, || And He has purified the sons of Levi, || And has refined them as gold and as silver, || And they have been bringing a present near to YHWH in righteousness. And the present of Judah and Jerusalem has been sweet to YHWH, || As in days of old, and as in former years. And I have drawn near to you for judgment, || And I have been a witness, || Making haste against sorcerers, and against adulterers, || And against swearers to a falsehood, || And against oppressors of the hire of a hired worker, || Of a widow, and of a fatherless one, || And those turning aside a sojourner, || And who do not fear Me," said YHWH of Hosts. "For I, YHWH, have not changed, || And you, the sons of Jacob, || You have not been consumed. Even from the days of your fathers You have turned aside from My statutes, || And you have not taken heed. Return to Me, and I return to you," said YHWH of Hosts. "And you have said, || In what do we turn back? Does man deceive God? But you are deceiving Me, || And you have said, || In what have we deceived You? The tithe and the raised-offering! You are cursed with a curse! And you are deceiving Me—this nation—all of it. Bring in all the tithe to the treasure-house, || And there is food in My house; When you have tried Me, now, with this," said YHWH of Hosts, || "Do I not open the windows of the heavens to you? Indeed, I have emptied on you a blessing until there is no space. And I have pushed against the consumer for you, || And He does not destroy the fruit of your ground, || Nor does the vine in the field miscarry to you," said YHWH of Hosts. "And all the nations have declared you blessed, || For you are a delightful land," said YHWH of Hosts. "Your words have been hard against Me," said YHWH, || "And you have said, What have we spoken against You? You have said, A vain thing to serve God! And what gain when we kept His charge? And when we have gone in black, || Because of YHWH of Hosts? And now, we are declaring the proud blessed, || Indeed, those doing wickedness have been built up, || Indeed, they have tempted God, and escape. Then have those fearing YHWH spoken to one another, || And YHWH attends and hears, || And a scroll of memorial is written before Him || Of those fearing YHWH, || And of those esteeming His Name. And they have been to Me," said YHWH of Hosts, || "In the day that I am appointing—a peculiar treasure, || And I have had pity on them, || As one has pity on his son who is serving him. And you have turned back and considered, || Between the righteous and the wicked, || Between the servant of God and him who is not His servant."

Chapter 4
"For behold, the day has come, burning as a furnace, || When all the proud and all those doing wickedness have been stubble, || And the day that came has burned them," said YHWH of Hosts, || "That there is not left to them root or branch, But for you fearing My Name, || The Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in His wings, || And you have gone forth, || And have bounded as calves of a stall. And you have trodden down the wicked, || For they are ashes under the soles of your feet, || In the day that I am appointing," said YHWH of Hosts. "Remember the Law of My servant Moses, || That I commanded him in Horeb, || For all Israel—statutes and judgments. Behold, I am sending Elijah the prophet to you, || Before the coming of the great and fearful Day of YHWH. And he has turned back the heart of fathers to sons, || And the heart of sons to their fathers, || Before I come and have utterly struck the land!"