For from the east to the west my name will be great among the nations. Incense and pure offerings will be offered in my name everywhere, for my name will be great among the nations,” ¹  says the Lord who rules over all.

“A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects ¹  his master. If I am your ²  father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The Lord who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, ‘How have we made light of your name?’

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb ¹  I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. ² 

Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant ¹  may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all.

But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication ¹  will rise with healing wings, ²  and you will skip about ³  like calves released from the stall.

“My covenant with him was designed to bring life and peace. I gave its statutes to him to fill him with awe, and he indeed revered me and stood in awe before me.

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!

“They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. ¹  I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

“Since, I, the Lord, do not go back on my promises, ¹  you, sons of Jacob, have not perished.

From the days of your ancestors you have ignored ¹  my commandments ²  and have not kept them! Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord who rules over all. “But you say, ‘How should we return?’

If you do not listen and take seriously ¹  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ²  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

“There will be harsh condemnation for the hypocrite who has a valuable male animal in his flock but vows and sacrifices something inferior to the Lord. For I am a great king,” ¹  says the Lord who rules over all, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

“I am about to send my messenger, ¹  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ²  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ³  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

“Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ¹  so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all.

“I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ¹  so that you no longer would light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will no longer accept an offering from you.

“Therefore, I have caused you to be ignored and belittled before all people to the extent to which you are not following after me and are showing partiality in your ¹  instruction.”

What follows is divine revelation. ¹  The word of the Lord came to Israel through Malachi: ² 

“But you are profaning it by saying that the table of the Lord is common and its offerings ¹  despicable.

I am about to discipline your children ¹  and will spread offal ²  on your faces, ³  the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.

For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him ¹  because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.