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Malachi 1
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God's complaint against Israel
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The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
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I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast
thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD:
yet I loved Jacob,
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And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage
waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
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Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return
and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts,
They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call
them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom
the LORD hath indignation for ever.
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And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be
magnified from the border of Israel.
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of their disrespect for religion
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A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then
I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master,
where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests,
that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised
thy name?
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Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein
have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD
is contemptible.
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And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and
if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now
unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept
thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.
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And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto
us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons?
saith the LORD of hosts.
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Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for
nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I
have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will
I accept an offering at your hand.
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For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of
the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in
every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure
offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith
the LORD of hosts.
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and profaning His name
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But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the
LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is
contemptible.
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Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have
snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that
which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought
an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.
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But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male,
and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for
I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is
dreadful among the heathen.
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Malachi 2
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He reproves the priests for neglecting their covenant
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And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
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If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to
give glory unto my name, saith 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 ye do not lay it
to heart.
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Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your
faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall
take you away with it.
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And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you,
that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
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My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to
him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before
my name.
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The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found
in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did
turn many away from iniquity.
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For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should
seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD
of hosts.
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But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to
stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi,
saith the LORD of hosts.
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Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before
all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have
been partial in the law.
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Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why
do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by
profaning the covenant of our fathers?
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and the people for idolatry
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Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is
committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned
the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the
daughter of a strange god.
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The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master
and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that
offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
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And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD
with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that
he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with
good will at your hand.
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For adultery and infidelity
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Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness
between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast
dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife
of thy covenant.
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And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit.
And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore
take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously
against the wife of his youth.
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For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting
away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the
LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye
deal not treacherously.
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Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say,
Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that
doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth
in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
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Malachi 3
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Of the messenger, majesty, and grace of Christ
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Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the
way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly
come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom
ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
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But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand
when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like
fullers' soap:
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And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he
shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and
silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in
righteousness.
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Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant
unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
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And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift
witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers,
and against false swearers, and against those that oppress
the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and
that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me,
saith the LORD of hosts.
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For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed.
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and the people's rebellion
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Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine
ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will
return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein
shall we return?
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Their robbing God of tithes and offerings
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Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein
have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
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Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this
whole nation.
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Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may
be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the
LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room
enough to receive it.
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And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall
not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine
cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD
of hosts.
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And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a
delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
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Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD.
Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
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Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is
it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked
mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
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And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work
wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even
delivered.
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The promise of blessing to those who fear God
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Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another:
and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance
was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that
thought upon his name.
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And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day
when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man
spareth his own son that serveth him.
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Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and
the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth
him not.
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Malachi 4
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God's judgment on the wicked
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For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and
all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble:
and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD
of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
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and His blessing on the good
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But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and
grow up as calves of the stall.
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And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes
under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this,
saith the LORD of hosts.
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He exhorts the people to the study of the law
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Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded
unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
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and tells of Elijah's coming
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Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
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And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come
and smite the earth with a curse.
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