Malachi 1:7-8

1:7 You are offering improper sacrifices on my altar, yet you ask, ‘How have we offended you?’ By treating the table ¹  of the Lord as if it is of no importance! 1:8 For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, ²  is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them ³  to your governor! Will he be pleased with you ⁴  or show you favor?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Leviticus 22:8

22:8 He must not eat an animal that has died of natural causes ⁵  or an animal torn by beasts and thus become unclean by it. I am the Lord.

Leviticus 22:19-23

22:19 if it is to be acceptable for your benefit ⁶  it must be a flawless male from the cattle, sheep, or goats. 22:20 You must not present anything that has a flaw, ⁷  because it will not be acceptable for your benefit. ⁸  22:21 If a man presents a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord for a special votive offering ⁹  or for a freewill offering from the herd or the flock, it must be flawless to be acceptable; ¹⁰  it must have no flaw. ¹¹ 

22:22 “‘You must not present to the Lord something blind, or with a broken bone, or mutilated, or with a running sore, ¹²  or with a festering eruption, or with a feverish rash. ¹³  You must not give any of these as a gift ¹⁴  on the altar to the Lord. 22:23 As for an ox ¹⁵  or a sheep with a limb too long or stunted, ¹⁶  you may present it as a freewill offering, but it will not be acceptable for a votive offering. ¹⁷ 

Deuteronomy 15:21

15:21 If they have any kind of blemish – lameness, blindness, or anything else ¹⁸  – you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord your God.

Ezekiel 4:14

4:14 And I said, “Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat ¹⁹  has never entered my mouth.”

Ezekiel 44:31

44:31 The priests will not eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or was torn to pieces by a wild animal. ²⁰ 

[1:7]  ¹ sn The word table, here a synonym for “altar,” has overtones of covenant imagery in which a feast shared by the covenant partners was an important element (see Exod 24:11). It also draws attention to the analogy of sitting down at a common meal with the governor (v. 8).

[1:8]  ² sn Offerings of animals that were lame or sick were strictly forbidden by the Mosaic law (see Deut 15:21).

[1:8]  ³ tn Heb “it” (so NAB, NASB). Contemporary English more naturally uses a plural pronoun to agree with “the lame and sick” in the previous question (cf. NIV, NCV).

[1:8]  ⁴ tc The LXX and Vulgate read “with it” (which in Hebrew would be הֲיִרְצֵהוּ, hayirtsehu, a reading followed by NAB) rather than “with you” of the MT (הֲיִרְצְךָ, hayirtsÿkha). The MT (followed here by most English versions) is to be preferred because of the parallel with the following phrase פָנֶיךָ (fanekha, “receive you,” which the present translation renders as “show you favor”).

[22:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “a carcass,” referring to the carcass of an animal that has died on its own, not the carcass of an animal slaughtered for sacrifice or killed by wild beasts. This has been clarified in the translation by supplying the phrase “of natural causes”; cf. NAB “that has died of itself”; TEV “that has died a natural death.”

[22:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “for your acceptance.” See Lev 1:3-4 above and the notes there.

[22:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “all which in it [is] a flaw.” Note that the same term is used for physical flaws of people in Lev 21:17-24. Cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “blemish”; NASB, NIV, TEV “defect”; NLT “with physical defects.”

[22:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “not for acceptance shall it be for you”; NIV “it will not be accepted on your behalf” (NRSV and NLT both similar).

[22:21]  ⁹ tn The meaning of the expression לְפַלֵּא־נֶדֶר (lÿfalle’-neder) rendered here “for a special votive offering” is much debated. Some take it as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., HALOT 927-28 s.v. פלא piel and NASB; cf. NAB, NRSV “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” (HALOT 928 s.v. פלא piel [II פלא]). Perhaps it refers to the making a special vow, from the verb פָלַא (pala’, “to be wonderful, to be remarkable”); cf. J. Milgrom, Numbers (JPSTC), 44. B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 151 and 193, suggests that this is a special term for “setting aside a votive offering” (related to פָלָה [palah, “to set aside”]). In general, the point of the expression seems to be that this sacrifice arises as a special gift to God out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.

[22:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for acceptance”; NAB “if it is to find acceptance.”

[22:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all/any flaw shall not be in it.”

[22:22]  ¹² tn Or perhaps “a wart” (cf. NIV; HALOT 383 s.v. יַבֶּלֶת, but see the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 358).

[22:22]  ¹³ sn See the note on Lev 21:20 above.

[22:22]  ¹⁴ sn This term for offering “gift” is explained in the note on Lev 1:9.

[22:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And an ox.”

[22:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and stunted” (see HALOT 1102 s.v. I קלט).

[22:23]  ¹⁷ sn The freewill offering was voluntary, so the regulations regarding it were more relaxed. Once a vow was made, the paying of it was not voluntary (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 151-52, for very helpful remarks on this verse).

[15:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “any evil blemish”; NASB “any (+ other NAB, TEV) serious defect.”

[4:14]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term refers to sacrificial meat not eaten by the appropriate time (Lev 7:18; 19:7).

[44:31]  ²⁰ tn The words “by a wild animal” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation as a clarification of the circumstances.