1. An oracle: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
2. “I have loved you,” says the Lord.But you ask: “How have You loved us? ”“Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother? ” This is the Lord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob,
3. but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4. Though Edom says: “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of Hosts says this: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country and the people the Lord has cursed forever.
5. Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say, ‘The Lord is great, even beyond the borders of Israel.’
6. “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me? says Yahweh of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name.”Yet you ask: “How have we despised Your name? ”
7. “By presenting defiled food on My altar.”You ask: “How have we defiled You? ” When you say: “The Lord’s table is contemptible.”
8. “When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor? ” asks the Lord of Hosts.