[You are] presenting defiled food on my altar! But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' By saying [that] the table of Yahweh is despised!

And you say, 'Look! [This is] a weariness,' and you sniff [with disdain] at it," says Yahweh of hosts. "And you bring [the] stolen, the lame, and the one that is sick--[this] you bring as the offering! Should I {accept it} from your hand?" says Yahweh.

"And in turn I have made you despised and humbled before all the people, inasmuch as you [are] not keeping my way, but are {favoring your own instruction}."

And this you do {as well}: [you] cover the altar of Yahweh [with] tears, [with] weeping and [with] groaning, because he {no longer regards the offering} or accepts [it] [with] favor from your hand.

But you ask, "{For what reason}?" Because Yahweh stands as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have been unfaithful, even though she [is] your marriage partner and {your wife by covenant}.

You have wearied Yahweh with your words, but you ask, "With what have we wearied [him]?" [You have done so] {when you say}, "Everyone who does evil [is] good in the {sight} of Yahweh, and in them he delights," or "Where [is] the God of justice?"

He will sit [as] a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the children of Levi, and he will refine them like gold and like silver, and they will present to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.

You have said, '[It is] useless to serve God! What [is the] gain if we keep his requirements, and if we walk as mourners {before} Yahweh of hosts?

"They will be mine," says Yahweh of hosts, "on the day that I [am] acting, [my] treasured possession. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.