Malachi 1

• 1. This is the message that the LORD gave to Israel through the prophet Malachi.
• 2. "I have loved you deeply," says the LORD. But you retort, "Really? How have you loved us?" And the LORD replies, "I showed my love for you by loving your ancestor Jacob. Yet Esau was Jacob's brother,
• 3. and I rejected Esau and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau's inheritance into a desert for jackals."
• 4. And Esau's descendants in Edom may say, "We have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins." But this is what the LORD Almighty says: "They may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again! Their country will be known as `The Land of Wickedness,' and their people will be called `The People with Whom the LORD Is Forever Angry.'
• 5. When you see the destruction for yourselves, you will say, `Truly, the LORD's great power reaches far beyond our borders!'"
• 6. The LORD Almighty says to the priests: "A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. I am your father and master, but where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have despised my name! "But you ask, `How have we ever despised your name?'
• 7. "You have despised my name by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar. "Then you ask, `How have we defiled the sacrifices?'"You defile them by saying the altar of the LORD deserves no respect.
• 8. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn't that wrong? And isn't it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!" says the LORD Almighty.
• 9. "Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?" asks the LORD Almighty.
• 10. "I wish that someone among you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not at all pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will not accept your offerings.
• 11. But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty.
• 12. "But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it's all right to defile the Lord's table.
• 13. You say, `It's too hard to serve the LORD,' and you turn up your noses at his commands," says the LORD Almighty. "Think of it! Animals that are stolen and mutilated, crippled and sick--presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?" asks the LORD.
• 14. "Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is feared among the nations!

Malachi 2

• 1. "Listen, you priests; this command is for you!
• 2. Listen to me and take it to heart. Honor my name," says the LORD Almighty, "or I will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken my warning seriously.
• 3. I will rebuke your descendants and splatter your faces with the dung of your festival sacrifices, and I will add you to the dung heap.
• 4. Then at last you will know it was I who sent you this warning so that my covenant with the Levites may continue," says the LORD Almighty.
• 5. "The purpose of my covenant with the Levites was to bring life and peace, and this is what I gave them. This called for reverence from them, and they greatly revered me and stood in awe of my name.
• 6. They passed on to the people all the truth they received from me. They did not lie or cheat; they walked with me, living good and righteous lives, and they turned many from lives of sin.
• 7. The priests' lips should guard knowledge, and people should go to them for instruction, for the priests are the messengers of the LORD Almighty.
• 8. But not you! You have left God's paths. Your `guidance' has caused many to stumble into sin. You have corrupted the covenant I made with the Levites," says the LORD Almighty.
• 9. "So I have made you despised and humiliated in the eyes of all the people. For you have not obeyed me but have shown partiality in your interpretation of the law."
• 10. Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why are we faithless to each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?
• 11. In Judah, in Israel, and in Jerusalem there is treachery, for the men of Judah have defiled the LORD's beloved sanctuary by marrying women who worship idols.
• 12. May the LORD cut off from the nation of Israel every last man who has done this and yet brings an offering to the LORD Almighty.
• 13. Here is another thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings, and he doesn't accept them with pleasure.
• 14. You cry out, "Why has the LORD abandoned us?" I'll tell you why! Because the LORD witnessed the vows you and your wife made to each other on your wedding day when you were young. But you have been disloyal to her, though she remained your faithful companion, the wife of your marriage vows.
• 15. Didn't the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard yourself; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.
• 16. "For I hate divorce!" says the LORD, the God of Israel. "It is as cruel as putting on a victim's bloodstained coat," says the LORD Almighty. "So guard yourself; always remain loyal to your wife."
• 17. You have wearied the LORD with your words. "Wearied him?" you ask. "How have we wearied him?" You have wearied him by suggesting that the LORD favors evildoers since he does not punish them. You have wearied him by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"

New Living Translation: 323 of 324 days.