CHAPTER 1
“I have loved you,”
says
the LORD.
But you ask,
“How
have You loved us?”
“Was not
Esau
Jacob’s
brother?”
declares
the LORD.
“Yet Jacob
I have loved,
but
Esau
I have hated,
and I have made
his mountains
a wasteland
and left his inheritance
to the desert
jackals.”
Though
Edom
may say,
“We have been devastated,
but we will rebuild
the ruins,”
this is what
the LORD
of Hosts
says:
“They
may build,
but I
will demolish.
They will be called
the Land
of Wickedness,
and a people
toward whom
the LORD
is indignant
forever.
You will see this
with your own eyes,
and you yourselves
will say,
‘The LORD
is great—
even beyond
the borders
of Israel.’”
“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
the LORD
of Hosts
to you
priests
who despise
My name.
Yet you ask,
“How
have we despised
Your name?”
“By presenting
defiled
food
on
My altar.”
You ask,
“How
have we defiled You?”
“By saying that
the table
of the LORD
is contemptible.”
“When
you offer
blind animals
for sacrifice,
is it not
wrong?
And when
you present
the lame
and sick ones,
is it not
wrong?
Why not offer them
to your governor!
Would he be pleased
with you or
show you favor?”
asks
the LORD
of Hosts.
“But ask now
for God’s
favor.
Will He be gracious to us?
Since this
has come
from
your hands,
will He show you favor?”
asks
the LORD
of Hosts.
“Oh,
that one
of you
would shut
the temple doors,
so that you would no
longer kindle
useless
fires on My altar!
I take no
pleasure
in you,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts,
“and I will accept
no
offering
from your hands.”
“For
My name
will be great
among the nations,
from the rising
to
the setting
of the sun.
In every
place,
incense
and pure
offerings
will be presented
in My name,
because
My name
will be great
among the nations,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
“But you
profane
it
when you say,
‘The table
of the LORD
is
defiled,
and its fruit,
its food,
is contemptible.’
You also say:
‘Look,
what a nuisance!’
And you turn up your nose at
it,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
“You bring
as an offering
animals that are stolen,
lame,
or sick!
Should I accept
this
from your hands?”
asks
the LORD.
“But cursed
is the deceiver
who has
an acceptable male
in his flock
and vows to give it,
but sacrifices
a defective
animal to the Lord.
For
I
am a great
King,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts,
“and My name
is to be feared
among the nations.”