I have loved you, says the LORD. Yet you say, How have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,

A son honors his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honor? and if I be a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And you say, How have we despised your name?

You offer polluted bread upon my altar; and you say, How have we polluted you? In that you say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.

Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nothing? neither do you kindle fire on my altar for nothing. I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

But you have profaned it, in that you say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his food, is contemptible.

You said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and you have sneered at it, says the LORD of hosts; and you brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus you brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? says the LORD.

If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, says the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.

And you shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, says the LORD of hosts.

But you have departed out of the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts.

Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as you have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

Have we not all one father? has not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

And this have you done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, because he regards not the offering any more, or receives it with good will at your hand.

Yet you say, Why? Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously: yet is she your companion, and the wife of your covenant.

You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, How have we wearied him? When you say, Every one that does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Even from the days of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, How shall we return?

Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, How have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings.

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

Your words have been strong against me, says the LORD. Yet you say, What have we spoken so much against you?

You have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts?