Malachi

This is the weighty message the LORD gave to Israel through Malachi.

1The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.

Note"Burden" translates a Hebrew word (massa) that means both a load someone carries and a solemn announcement, usually one of judgment; prophets' oracles are often headed this way. "Malachi" means "my messenger" in Hebrew, and readers have long disagreed over whether it is the prophet's actual name or a title describing him.

2"I have loved you," says the LORD. But you ask, "How have you loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" says the LORD. "Yet I loved Jacob,

2I 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,

NoteEsau and Jacob were twin brothers (Genesis 25). Esau was counted the ancestor of the Edomites and Jacob the ancestor of the Israelites, so naming the two brothers here is a way of speaking about the two neighboring nations, not only about two individuals. "Loved" and "hated" are the language of formal choice in Hebrew legal usage (the pair is used, for example, of a man with two wives, one preferred and one passed over (Deuteronomy 21:15–17)), so the contrast between choosing and rejecting is the point being made, though the words themselves are strong ones.

3but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland and left the land he inherited to the wild dogs of the desert."

3And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

NoteThe KJV's "dragons" renders a Hebrew word for wild desert animals, generally taken to be jackals, scavengers whose presence marks a place as abandoned ruin. "His mountains" are the highlands of Edom, the region around Mount Seir southeast of the Dead Sea, rugged country that gave Edom its reputation for being unconquerable.

4Edom may say, "We have been knocked down, but we will go back and rebuild the ruins." But this is what the LORD of Armies says: "They may build, but I will tear down. People will call them the Land of Wickedness, and the people the LORD is angry with forever.

4Whereas 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.

NoteEdom was Judah's neighbor to the southeast; it had been overrun and its people displaced in the centuries before Malachi wrote. "The LORD of hosts" is a standing title meaning the LORD who commands armies, the word covers both military forces and the heavenly ranks, and functions as a name for God as supreme commander.

5You will see it with your own eyes, and you yourselves will say, "The LORD is great, even beyond the borders of Israel."

5And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase is ambiguous: it can mean the LORD is great *beyond* Israel's borders, that is, out in the wider world, or that he is magnified *over* the territory of Israel. Translators divide over which is meant.

6"A son honors his father, and a servant honors his master. So if I am a father, where is the honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD of Armies to you priests, who treat my name as worthless. "But you ask, 'How have we treated your name as worthless?'

6A 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?

Note"Priests" here are the hereditary temple clergy, descendants of Aaron within the tribe of Levi, whose full-time work was slaughtering and presenting the sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem and who lived on a share of what was offered. "Fear" in the King James sense is the deference a servant owes a master, respect and awe, not fright.

7By putting unclean food on my altar. And you ask, "How have we made you unclean?" By saying that the LORD's table does not deserve respect.

7Ye 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.

Note"Bread" in this verse stands for food of any kind, meaning the offerings placed on the altar. "Polluted" and "unclean" are ritual terms: they describe something disqualified from use in worship by rule, not something dirty. "The table of the LORD" is the altar, spoken of as a table because the offerings burned on it were described as God's food.

8When you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer lame or sick animals, is that not wrong? Try giving them to your governor. Would he be pleased with you, or treat you with favor?" says the LORD of Armies.

8And 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.

NoteThe law required sacrificial animals to be without physical defect and specifically barred the blind, injured and diseased (Leviticus 22:20–25); such animals were also the ones a farmer could least afford to sell, so offering them cost him nothing. In Malachi's day Judah was a small province of the Persian empire under a governor, and approaching a governor with a gift was normal practice. "Accept thy person" translates a Hebrew idiom, literally "lift up your face," meaning to receive someone favorably, the gesture of a superior raising the bowed head of a petitioner.

9"Now go ahead and beg God to be kind to us. This is what your own hands have brought him, so will he treat any of you with favor?" says the LORD of Armies.

9And 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.

Note"Beseech God" is literally "soften the face of God," the standard Hebrew idiom for seeking someone's favor, and "I pray you" is simply the older English for "please." The verse can be read straight, as an invitation to pray, or as sarcasm (go on, try asking for favor after doing this) and the Hebrew supports either.

10"I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so you would stop lighting useless fires on my altar. I take no pleasure in you," says the LORD of Armies, "and I will accept no offering from your hands.

10Who 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.

Note"For nought" means for nothing, without payment. Priests were paid out of the offerings they handled, and the doors are the gates of the temple courts: shutting them would end the sacrifices, and the wages, altogether.

11From where the sun rises to where it sets, my name will be great among the nations. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD of Armies.

11For 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.

Note"Gentiles" and "heathen" both translate the same Hebrew word, simply meaning the nations, peoples other than Israel, and carry no extra sting in the original. Incense is aromatic resin burned so that its smoke rises, a standard element of worship across the ancient world. The Hebrew here has no verb, so the clause can be read as a present statement (my name *is* great among the nations) or a future one (*will be* great); translators are divided.

12"But you treat it as common when you say that the LORD's table is unclean, and that the food on it does not deserve respect.

12But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.

Note"Profaned" means treated as ordinary something that had been set apart, the opposite of holy, which means reserved for a special use. "His meat" uses "meat" in its 1611 sense of food of any kind, and "the fruit thereof" means the produce or income the altar yielded to the priests.

13You also say, 'What a burden this is!' and you sniff at it in disgust," says the LORD of Armies. "You bring animals taken by violence, and animals that are lame or sick, and that is the offering you bring. Should I accept that from your hands?" says the LORD.

13Ye 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.

Note"Snuffed at it" means snorted through the nose in contempt, a gesture of disgust. "That which was torn" normally means an animal mauled by a wild beast, which the law barred from both the table and the altar (Exodus 22:31; Leviticus 22:8); the same Hebrew root can also mean plunder or something seized, so some read it as stolen livestock.

14"A curse is on the cheat who has a healthy male animal in his flock and promises to give it, but then sacrifices a damaged one to the Lord. For I am a great King," says the LORD of Armies, "and my name is feared among the nations."

14But 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.

NoteA vow was a binding promise to give God a specific animal, usually made when asking for something; once spoken it could not be downgraded. Male animals were worth more and were required for certain offerings, so the cheat is someone who owns a fit animal, publicly promises it, and quietly substitutes a defective one. "Great King" was the formal title of imperial overlords (the Persian emperor who ruled Judah was styled the great king), so the phrase claims a rank above his.