Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today we'll be going through the entire
book of Malachi, chapters 1 through 4. Chapter
1 The Burden of the Word of the Lord to Israel
by Malachi I have loved you, says the Lord, yet
you say, in what way have you loved us? Was not
Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord? Yet Jacob
I have loved, but Esau I have hated. and laid
waste his mountains and his heritage for the
jackals of the wilderness. Even though Edom has
said, We have been impoverished, but we will
return and build the desolate places. Thus says
the Lord of hosts, They may build, but I will
throw down. They shall be called the territory
of wickedness, and the people against whom the
Lord will have indignation forever. Your eyes
shall see, and you shall say, The Lord is magnified
beyond the border of Israel. A son honors his
father, and a servant his master. If then I am
the father, where is my honor? And if I am a
master, where is my reverence? Says the Lord
of hosts. To you priests who despise my name,
yet you say, in what way have we despised your
name? You offer defiled food on my altar, but
say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying,
the table of the Lord is contemptible. And when
you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not
evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is
it not evil? Offer it then to your governor.
Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept
you favorably? Says the Lord of hosts. But now
entreat God's favor, that he may be gracious
to us. While this is being done by your hands,
will he accept you favorably? Says the Lord of
hosts. Who is there even among you who would
shut the doors, so that you would not kindle
fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure
in you. says the Lord of hosts. Nor will I accept
an offering from your hands, for from the rising
of the sun, even to its going down, my name shall
be great among the Gentiles. In every place incense
shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering,
for my name shall be great among the nations,
says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it, in
that you say the table of the Lord is defiled,
and its fruit, its food, is contemptible. You
also say, O what a weariness! and use near at
it, says the Lord of hosts. And you bring the
stolen, the lame, and the sick. Thus you bring
an offering. Should I accept this from your hand,
says the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver, who
has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, but
sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For
I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and
my name is to be feared among the nations. Chapter
2 And now, O priests, this commandment is for
you. If you will not hear, and if you will not
take it to heart, to give glory to my name, says
the Lord of hosts, I will send a curse upon you,
and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have
cursed them already, because you do not take
it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your descendants
and spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of
your solemn feasts, and one will take you away
with it. Then you shall know that I have sent
this commandment to you, that my covenant with
Levi may continue, says the Lord of hosts. My
covenant was with him, one of life and peace,
and I gave them to him that he might fear me.
So he feared me and was reverent before my name.
The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice
was not found on his lips. He walked with me
in peace and equity, and turned many away from
iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep
knowledge, and people should seek the law from
his mouth. For he is the messenger of the Lord
of hosts. But you have departed from the way.
You have caused many to stumble at the law. You
have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the
Lord of hosts. Therefore I also have made you
contemptible and base before all the people,
because you have not kept my ways, but have shown
partiality in the law. Have we not all one father?
Have not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously
with one another, by profaning the covenant of
the fathers? Judah has dealt treacherously, and
an abomination has been committed in Israel and
in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the Lord's
holy institution which he loves. He has married
the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut
off from the tents of Jacob the man who does
this, being awake and aware. yet who brings an
offering to the Lord of hosts. And this is the
second thing you do. You cover the altar of the
Lord with tears, with weeping and crying, so
he does not regard the offering anymore, nor
receive it with goodwill from your hands. Yet
you say, for what reason? Because the Lord has
been witness between you and the wife of your
youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously.
Yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
But did he not make them one, having a remnant
of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none
deal treacherously with the wife of your youth.
For the Lord God of Israel says that he hates
divorce, for it covers one's garment with violence,
says the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to
your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.
You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet
you say, In what way have we wearied him? In
that you say, everyone who does evil is good
in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in
them. Or, where is the God of justice? But who
can endure the day of his coming, and who can
stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's
fire, and like launderer's soap. He will sit
as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will
purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold
and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an
offering in righteousness. Then the offering
of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the
Lord, as in the days of old, as in former years.
And I will come near you for judgment. I will
be a swift witness against sorcerers, against
adulterers, against perjurers, against those
who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans,
and against those who turn away an alien because
they do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
For I am the Lord, I do not change. Therefore
you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob, yet from
the days of your fathers you have gone away from
my ordinances and have not kept them. Return
to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord
of hosts. But you said, In what way shall we
return? Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed
me. But you say, In what way have we robbed you?
In tithe and offerings. You are cursed with a
curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole
nation. Bring all the tithe into the storehouse,
that there may be food in my house, and try me
now in this, says the Lord of hosts. if I will
not open for you the windows of heaven and pour
out for you such blessing that there will not
be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke
the devourer for your sakes, so that he will
not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall
the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,
says the Lord of hosts. And all nations will
call you blessed, for you will be a delightful
land, says the Lord of hosts. Your words have
been harsh against me, says the Lord. Yet you
say, What have we spoken against you? You have
said, It is useless to serve God. What profit
is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that
we have walked as mourners before the Lord of
hosts? So now we call the proud blessed, for
those who do wickedness are raised up. They even
tempt God and go free. Then those who feared
the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened
and heard them. So a book of remembrance was
written before him for those who fear the Lord
and who meditate on his name. They shall be mine,
says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make
them my jewels and I will spare them. As a man
spares his own son who serves him, then you shall
again discern between the righteous and the wicked,
between one who serves God and one who does not
serve him. burning like an oven and all the proud
yes all who do wickedly will be stubble and the
day which is coming shall burn them up says the
lord of hosts that will leave them neither root
nor branch but to you who fear my name the son
of righteousness shall arise with healing in
his wings and you shall go out and grow fat like
stall fed calves you shall trample the wicked
for they shall be ashes under the soles of your
feet on the day that i do this says the lord
of hosts Remember the law of Moses, my servant,
which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,
with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And
he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children, and the hearts of the children to their
fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with
a curse. I hope you enjoyed today's reading as
much as I did and I look forward to seeing you
again tomorrow to continue on our journey. God
bless you and have a great day.