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

"I have shown love to you," says the Lord, but you say, "How have you shown love to us?" "Esau was Jacob's brother," the Lord explains, "yet I chose Jacob

Your eyes will see it, and then you will say, 'May the Lord be magnified even beyond the border of Israel!'"

You are offering improper sacrifices on my altar, yet you ask, 'How have we offended you?' By treating the table of the Lord as if it is of no importance!

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

You also say, 'How tiresome it is.' You turn up your nose at it," says the Lord who rules over all, "and instead bring what is stolen, lame, or sick. You bring these things for an offering! Should I accept this from you?" asks the Lord.

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

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

He taught what was true; sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin.

You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you.

Yet you ask, "Why?" The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law.

No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth.

"Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse 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.

You have said, 'It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all?

"For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up," says the Lord who rules over all. "It will not leave even a root or branch.

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