"I have loved you," says Yahweh, but you say, "How have you loved us?" "[Is] Esau not Jacob's brother?" {declares} Yahweh. "I have loved Jacob,

but Esau I have hated. I have made his mountain ranges a desolation, and [given] his inheritance to the jackals of [the] desert."

Because Edom saith, 'We have been made poor, And we turn back and we build the wastes,' Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: They do build, and I do destroy, And men have called to them, 'O region of wickedness,' 'O people whom Jehovah defied to the age.'

"A son honors [his] father, and a slave his master; but if I [am] a father, where [is] my honor, and if I [am] a master, where [is] my reverence?" says Yahweh of hosts to you, O priests, {who despise} my name. "But you say, 'How have we despised your name?'

[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 when you give what is blind for an offering, it is no evil! and when you give what is damaged and ill, it is no evil! Give it now to your ruler; will he be pleased with you, or will you have his approval? says the Lord of armies.

So then, {implore the favor of God} so that he will be gracious to us. "{This is what you have done}. {Will he show favor to any of you}?" says Yahweh of hosts.

Who is there among you that would even shut the doors? and ye would not kindle fire on mine altar for nothing. I have no delight in you, saith Jehovah of hosts, neither will I accept an oblation at your hand.

But ye have unhallowed it, in that ye say, 'The altar of the LORD is not to be regarded, and the thing that is set thereupon, not worthy to be eaten.'

And ye say, Behold, what a weariness! And ye have puffed at it, saith Jehovah of hosts, and ye bring that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye bring the oblation: should I accept this of your hand? saith Jehovah.

If you will not listen, and if you will not {take it to heart} to give glory to my name," says Yahweh of hosts, "then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings; moreover I have [already] cursed them because {you are not taking it to heart}.

Lo, I am pushing away before you the seed, And have scattered dung before your faces, Dung of your festivals, And it hath taken you away with it.

"Then you will know that I have sent to you this command, that my covenant with Levi {continues}," says Yahweh of hosts.

But you, you have turned from the way; you have caused many to stumble by [your] instruction; you have ruined the covenant of Levi," says Yahweh of hosts.

"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}."

{Do we not all have} one father? Has not one God created us? Why [then] are we unfaithful {to one another}, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?

Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god!

The Lord will have the man who does this cut off root and branch out of the tents of Jacob, and him who makes an offering to the Lord of armies.

Now have ye brought it to this point again, that the altar of the LORD is covered with tears, weeping, and mourning: so that I will no more regard the meat offering, neither will I receive or accept anything at your hands.

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}.

And He did not make one only, And He hath the remnant of the Spirit. And what is the one alone! He is seeking a godly seed. And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And with the wife of thy youth, None doth deal treacherously.

For I hate sending away, said Jehovah, God of Israel, And He who hath covered violence with his clothing, said Jehovah of Hosts, And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And ye do not deal treacherously.

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?"

See, I am sending my servant, and he will make ready the way before me; and the Lord, whom you are looking for, will suddenly come to his Temple; and the angel of the agreement, in whom you have delight, see, he is coming, says the Lord of armies.

And he hath sat, a refiner and purifier of silver, And he hath purified the sons of Levi, And hath refined them as gold and as silver, And they have been to Jehovah bringing nigh a present in righteousness.

And I have drawn near to you for judgment, And I have been a witness, Making haste against sorcerers, And against adulterers, And against swearers to a falsehood, And against oppressors of the hire of an hireling, Of a widow, and of a fatherless one, And those turning aside a sojourner, And who fear Me not, said Jehovah of Hosts.

"For I, Yahweh, have not changed, and you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.

From the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my rules, and have not kept [them]! Return to me and I will return to you," says Yahweh of hosts, "but you say, 'How shall we return?'

Will a human [dare to] rob God? Yet you [are] robbing me! And you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In the tithes and the contributions!

Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Bring in all the tithe unto the treasure-house, And there is food in My house; When ye have tried Me, now, with this, Said Jehovah of Hosts, Do not I open to you the windows of heaven? Yea, I have emptied on you a blessing till there is no space.

And I have pushed for you against the consumer, And He doth not destroy to you the fruit of the ground, Nor miscarry to you doth the vine in the field, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And declared you happy have all the nations, For ye are a delightful land, said Jehovah of Hosts.

"Your words have been harsh against me," says Yahweh. "But you say, 'How have we spoken together against you?'

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?

And now, we are declaring the proud happy, Yea, built up have been those doing wickedness, Yea they have tempted God, and escape.'

Then have those fearing Jehovah spoken one to another, And Jehovah doth attend and hear, And written is a book of memorial before Him Of those fearing Jehovah, And of those esteeming His name.

"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.

And ye have turned back and considered, Between the righteous and the wicked, Between the servant of God and him who is not His servant.

For, lo, the day hath come, burning as a furnace, And all the proud, and every wicked doer, have been stubble, And burnt them hath the day that came, Said Jehovah of Hosts, That there is not left to them root or branch,

And risen to you, ye who fear My name, Hath the sun of righteousness -- and healing in its wings, And ye have gone forth, and have increased as calves of a stall.

And ye have trodden down the wicked, For they are ashes under the soles of your feet, In the day that I am appointing, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And he hath turned back the heart of fathers to sons, And the heart of sons to their fathers, Before I come and have utterly smitten the land!