[Sidenote: Mal. 1:10, 11]
O that there were those among you who would shut the
doors,
That ye might not kindle fire on mine altar in vain!
I have no pleasure in you, saith Jehovah of hosts,
Neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
For from the rising of the sun even to its setting
my name is sacred among
the nations,
And in every place they offer to my name a pure offering;
For my name is great among the nations, saith Jehovah
of hosts.
[Sidenote: Mal. 1:12, 14]
‘The table of Jehovah is polluted, and its food
is contemptible.’
Ye say also, ‘Behold what a weariness is it!’
and ye have scorned me;
And ye have brought the blind, the lame and the sick.
Should I accept this at your hand? saith Jehovah of
hosts.
But cursed be the deceiver, who has in his flock a
male,
And vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a blemished thing;
For I am a great King, and my name is feared among
the nations.
[Sidenote: Mal. 2:1-4]
And now, O ye priests, this command is for you.
If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to
heart,
To give glory to my name, saith Jehovah of hosts,
Then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse
your blessings;
Behold, I will cut off your arm,
And will spread offal upon your faces, even the offal
of your feasts,
And ye shall know that I have sent this command to
you,
That my covenant with Levi may be preserved, saith
Jehovah of hosts.
[Sidenote: Mal. 2:15-7]
My covenant with him was to give life and peace;
And I gave them to him that he might revere me;
And he revered me, and stood in awe of my name.
The true instruction was in his mouth,
And unrighteousness was not found in his lips;
He walked with me in peace and uprightness,
And turned many away from iniquity.
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge,
And men should seek the law at his mouth;
For he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts.
[Sidenote: Mal. 2:8, 9]
But ye are turned aside out of the way;
Ye have caused many to stumble in the law;
Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.
Therefore have I also made you contemptible,
And base before all the people,
According as ye have not kept my ways,
And have had no respect for me in imparting the law.
[Sidenote: Mal. 2:10, 13, 14]
Have we not all one father?
Hath not one God created us?
Why do we deal faithlessly with one another,
Profaning the covenant of our fathers?
And this ye do also:
Ye cover the altar of Jehovah with tears,
So that he regardeth not the offering any more,
Neither receiveth it acceptably from your hand.
Yet ye say, Why?
Because Jehovah hath been witness between thee and
the wife of thy youth,
Against whom thou hast dealt faithlessly,
Though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.