"Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the LORD, "yet I loved Jacob, hated Esau, turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to desert jackals.

Even though Edom may claim, "We were crushed, but we will return and rebuild the ruins,' this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "They may rebuild, but I'll demolish. People will call them, "The Wicked Land,' and, "The People With Whom the LORD is Forever Angry.'

Even so, from where the sun rises to where it sets my name will be great among the Gentiles. Incense will be brought to me everywhere, along with pure offerings, because my name will be great among the Gentiles," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

"And you say, "What a burden!' and sniff contemptuously at it," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "when you present maimed, crippled, and diseased animals, and when you bring the offering. Should I accept this from your hand?" asks the LORD.

"Cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock, and vows to give it, but sacrifices a mutilated one to the LORD. Indeed, I am a great king," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "and my name is feared among the Gentiles."

"If you don't listen, and if you don't choose to give honor to my name," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "then I'll curse both you and your blessings. I've even cursed them already, because none of you are taking it to heart.

Look! I'm rebuking your descendants because of you, and I'll spread waste on your faces, the waste of your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.

"This is another thing you do: you flood the altar of the LORD with tears, weeping and wailing because he no longer pays attention to your offering nor takes pleasure in it from your hand.

Yet you ask, "For what reason?' Because the LORD acts as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you were unfaithful to her, your partner, the wife of your covenant.

"Watch out! I'm sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly, the LORD you are looking for will come to his Temple. He is the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Watch out! He is coming!" says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

Then the offering to the LORD by Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable as it was in the past, even as in former years.

"I'll come near to you for judgment. I'll be a witness, quick to speak against sorcerers, against adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who defraud the laborer of his wage, against those who defraud the widow and the orphan, against those who deprive the alien of justice, and against those who don't fear me," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

"Will a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you ask, "How are we robbing you?' "By the tithe and the offering.

"Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. So put me to the test in this right now," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "and see if I won't throw open the windows of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure.

"You have spoken arrogant words against me," says the LORD. "Yet you ask, "What did we say against you?'

You said, "It is futile to serve God,' and, "What did we get out of it when we carried out his requirements and went about like mourners in the presence of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies?'

"The coming day is certainly going to burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and all who practice evil will be stubble the coming day will set them on fire," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

But the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in its light for those who fear my name. You will go out and leap like calves released from their stalls

"Remember the Law of Moses my servant that I gave him at Horeb for all Israel both the decrees and laws.

and he will turn the hearts of fathers to children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I'll come, strike the land, and utterly destroy it."