"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.

Your own eyes will see this, and you will say, "Great is the LORD even beyond the borders of Israel!'"

"A son honors his father and a servant his master. So if I'm a father, where is my honor? And if I'm a master, where is my respect?" says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies to you priests who are despising my name. "But you ask, "How have we despised your name?'

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.

"My covenant with him was for life and peace, and I gave the commandments to him so he would fear me. He did fear me as he stood in my presence.

For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he's the messenger of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

"So I also made you despised, humiliating you before all of the people, because you aren't following my ways and are showing partiality when you teach."

Did he not make them one? And the vestige of the spirit remains in him. And why did he make them one? He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and don't be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.

"Indeed, the LORD God of Israel says that he hates divorce, along with the one who conceals his violence by outward appearances," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. "So guard yourselves carefully, and don't be unfaithful."

"You have wearied the LORD with your words. You ask, "How have we wearied you?' By your saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD and he's pleased with them,' or "Where is the God of justice?'"

But who will survive the day when he comes? Or who can stand when he appears? Because he's like a refiner's fire and a launderer's soap,

"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.

And I'll prevent the devourer from harming you, so that he does not destroy the crops of your land. Nor will the vines in your fields drop their fruit," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

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

When you return, you will see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, and between the one who serves God and the one who does not."

"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.