<\/p>\n
THE BURDEN<\/strong><\/p>\n OF THE WORD<\/strong><\/p>\n OF THE LORD<\/strong><\/p>\n TO ISRAEL<\/strong><\/p>\n BY MALACHI.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I HAVE LOVED YOU,<\/strong><\/p>\n SAITH THE LORD.<\/strong><\/p>\n YET YE SAY,<\/strong><\/p>\n WHEREIN HAST THOU LOVED US?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?<\/p>\n saith the LORD:<\/p>\n yet I loved Jacob,<\/p>\n And I hated Esau,<\/p>\n and laid his mountains<\/p>\n and his heritage waste<\/p>\n for the dragons of the wilderness.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Whereas Edom saith,<\/p>\n We are impoverished,<\/p>\n but we will return<\/p>\n and build the desolate places;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS,<\/p>\n They shall build, but I will throw down;<\/p>\n and they shall call them,<\/p>\n The border of wickedness,<\/p>\n and,<\/p>\n The people against whom the LORD<\/p>\n hath indignation for ever.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And your eyes shall see,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and ye shall say,<\/p>\n The LORD will be magnified<\/p>\n from the border of Israel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A SON HONOURETH HIS FATHER,<\/p>\n AND A SERVANT HIS MASTER:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n if then I be a father,<\/p>\n where is mine honour?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and if I be a master,<\/p>\n where is my fear?<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts unto you,<\/p>\n O priests, that despise my name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And ye say,<\/p>\n Wherein have we despised thy name?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and ye say,<\/p>\n Wherein have we polluted thee?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In that ye say,<\/p>\n The table of the LORD is contemptible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice,<\/p>\n is it not evil?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and if ye offer the lame and sick,<\/p>\n is it not evil?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n offer it now unto thy governor;<\/p>\n will he be pleased with thee,<\/p>\n or accept thy person?<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And now,<\/p>\n I pray you,<\/p>\n beseech God that he will be gracious unto us:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n this hath been by your means:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n will he regard your persons?<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Who is there even among you<\/p>\n that would shut the doors for nought?<\/p>\n neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have no pleasure in you,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts,<\/p>\n neither will I accept an offering at your hand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For from the rising of the sun<\/p>\n even unto the going down of the same<\/p>\n my name shall be great among the Gentiles<\/em>;<\/p>\n and in every place incense<\/p>\n shall be offered unto my name,<\/p>\n and a pure offering:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n for my name shall be great among the heathen<\/em>,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But ye have profaned it,<\/p>\n in that ye say,<\/p>\n The table of the LORD is polluted;<\/p>\n and the fruit thereof,<\/p>\n even his meat,<\/p>\n is contemptible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ye said also,<\/p>\n Behold,<\/p>\n what a weariness is it!<\/p>\n and ye have snuffed at it,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and ye brought that which was torn,<\/p>\n and the lame,<\/p>\n and the sick;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n thus ye brought an offering:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n should I accept this of your hand?<\/p>\n saith the LORD.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But cursed be the deceiver,<\/p>\n which hath in his flock a male,<\/p>\n and voweth,<\/p>\n and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n for I am a great King,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts,<\/p>\n and my name is dreadful among the heathen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n AND NOW,<\/p>\n O YE PRIESTS,<\/p>\n this commandment is for you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If ye will not hear,<\/p>\n and if ye will not lay it to heart,<\/p>\n to give glory unto my name,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts,<\/p>\n I will even send a curse upon you,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and I will curse your blessings:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n yea,<\/p>\n I have cursed them already,<\/p>\n because ye do not lay it to heart.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Behold,<\/p>\n I will corrupt your seed,<\/p>\n and spread dung upon your faces,<\/p>\n even the dung of your solemn feasts;<\/p>\n and one shall take you away with it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And ye shall know that<\/p>\n I have sent this commandment<\/p>\n unto you,<\/p>\n that my covenant might be with Levi,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My covenant was with him<\/p>\n of life<\/p>\n and peace;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and I gave them to him<\/p>\n for the fear wherewith he feared me,<\/p>\n and was afraid before my name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The law of truth was in his mouth,<\/em><\/p>\n and iniquity was not found in his lips:<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n he walked with me in peace and equity,<\/em><\/p>\n and did turn many away from iniquity.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge,<\/p>\n and they should seek the law at his mouth:<\/p>\n for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But ye are departed out of the way;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ye have caused many to stumble at the law;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Therefore have I also made you contemptible<\/p>\n and base before all the people,<\/p>\n according as ye have not kept my ways,<\/p>\n but have been partial in the law.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n HAVE WE NOT ALL ONE FATHER?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n hath not one God created us?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n why do we deal treacherously<\/p>\n every man against his brother,<\/p>\n by profaning the covenant of our fathers?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Judah hath dealt treacherously,<\/p>\n and an abomination is committed<\/p>\n in Israel and in Jerusalem;<\/p>\n for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD<\/p>\n which he loved,<\/p>\n and hath married the daughter of a strange god.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The LORD will cut off<\/p>\n the man that doeth this,<\/p>\n the master and the scholar,<\/p>\n out of the tabernacles of Jacob,<\/p>\n and him that offereth an offering<\/p>\n unto the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And this have ye done again,<\/p>\n covering the altar of the LORD with tears,<\/p>\n with weeping,<\/p>\n and with crying out,<\/p>\n insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more,<\/p>\n or receiveth it with good will at your hand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet ye say,<\/p>\n Wherefore?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Because the LORD hath been witness<\/p>\n between thee and the wife of thy youth,<\/p>\n against whom thou hast dealt treacherously:<\/p>\n yet is she thy companion,<\/p>\n and the wife of thy covenant.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And did not he make one?<\/p>\n Yet had he the residue of the spirit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And wherefore one?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That he might seek a godly seed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Therefore take heed to your spirit,<\/p>\n and let none deal treacherously<\/p>\n against the wife of his youth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For the LORD,<\/p>\n the God of Israel,<\/p>\n saith that he hateth putting away:<\/p>\n for one covereth violence with his garment,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n therefore take heed to your spirit,<\/p>\n that ye deal not treacherously.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ye have wearied the LORD with your words.<\/p>\n Yet ye say,<\/p>\n Wherein have we wearied him?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When ye say,<\/p>\n Every one that doeth evil<\/p>\n is good in the sight of the LORD,<\/p>\n and he delighteth in them;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n or,<\/p>\n Where is the God of judgment?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Behold,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I will send my messenger,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n and he shall prepare<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n the way before me:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n and the Lord,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n whom ye seek,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n shall suddenly come to his temple,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n even the messenger of the covenant,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n whom ye delight in:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n behold,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n he shall come,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But who may abide the day of his coming?<\/em><\/p>\n and who shall stand when he appeareth?<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n for he is like a refiner’s fire,<\/em><\/p>\n and like fullers’ soap:<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And he shall sit as a refiner<\/p>\n and purifier of silver:<\/p>\n and he shall purify the sons of Levi,<\/p>\n and purge them as gold and silver,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n that they may offer unto the LORD<\/p>\n an offering in righteousness.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem<\/p>\n be pleasant unto the LORD,<\/p>\n as in the days of old,<\/p>\n and as in former years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And I will come near to you to judgment;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers,<\/p>\n and against the adulterers,<\/p>\n and against false swearers,<\/p>\n and against those<\/p>\n that oppress the hireling in his wages,<\/p>\n the widow,<\/p>\n and the fatherless,<\/p>\n and that turn aside the stranger from his right,<\/p>\n and fear not me,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For I am the LORD,<\/em><\/p>\n I change not;<\/em><\/p>\n therefore ye sons of Jacob<\/em><\/p>\n are not consumed.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even from the days of your fathers<\/p>\n ye are gone away from mine ordinances,<\/p>\n and have not kept them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Return unto me,<\/p>\n and I will return unto you,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n But ye said,<\/p>\n Wherein shall we return?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Will a man rob God?<\/em><\/p>\n Yet ye have robbed me.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But ye say,<\/p>\n Wherein have we robbed thee?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In tithes and offerings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ye are cursed with a curse:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n for ye have robbed me,<\/p>\n even this whole nation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,<\/p>\n that there may be meat in mine house,<\/p>\n and prove me now herewith,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts,<\/p>\n if I will not open you the windows of heaven,<\/p>\n and pour you out a blessing,<\/p>\n that there shall not be room enough to receive it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,<\/p>\n and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n neither shall your vine cast her fruit<\/p>\n before the time<\/p>\n in the field,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And all nations shall call you blessed:<\/p>\n for ye shall be a delightsome land,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n YOUR WORDS HAVE BEEN STOUT AGAINST ME,<\/p>\n SAITH THE LORD.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet ye say,<\/p>\n What have we spoken so much against thee?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ye have said,<\/p>\n It is vain to serve God:<\/p>\n and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance,<\/p>\n and that we have walked mournfully<\/p>\n before the LORD of hosts?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And now we call the proud happy;<\/p>\n yea,<\/p>\n they that work wickedness are set up;<\/p>\n yea,<\/p>\n they that tempt God are even delivered.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then they that feared the LORD<\/p>\n spake often one to another:<\/p>\n and the LORD hearkened,<\/p>\n and heard it,<\/p>\n and a book of remembrance was written before him<\/em><\/p>\n for them that feared the LORD,<\/p>\n and that thought upon his name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And they shall be mine,<\/em><\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts,<\/em><\/p>\n in that day when I make up my jewels;<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n and I will spare them,<\/p>\n as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then shall ye return,<\/p>\n and discern<\/p>\n between the righteous and the wicked,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n between him that serveth God<\/p>\n and him that serveth him not.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n FOR, BEHOLD,<\/p>\n THE DAY COMETH,<\/p>\n that shall burn as an oven;<\/p>\n and all the proud,<\/p>\n yea,<\/p>\n and all that do wickedly,<\/p>\n shall be stubble:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and the day that cometh shall burn them up,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts,<\/p>\n that it shall leave them neither root<\/p>\n nor branch.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But unto you that fear my name<\/em><\/p>\n shall the Sun of righteousness arise<\/em><\/p>\n with healing in his wings;<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n and ye shall go forth,<\/p>\n and grow up as calves of the stall.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And ye shall tread down the wicked;<\/p>\n for they shall be ashes<\/p>\n under the soles of your feet<\/p>\n in the day that I shall do this,<\/p>\n saith the LORD of hosts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Remember ye the law of Moses my servant,<\/p>\n which I commanded unto him<\/p>\n in Horeb<\/p>\n for all Israel,<\/p>\n with the statutes and judgments.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Behold,<\/em><\/p>\n I will send you Elijah the prophet<\/em><\/p>\n before the coming<\/em><\/p>\n of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And he shall turn the heart of the fathers<\/p>\n to the children,<\/p>\n and the heart of the children<\/p>\n to their fathers,<\/p>\n lest I come<\/p>\n and smite the earth<\/p>\n with a curse.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n prev<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE BURDEN OF THE WORD OF THE LORD TO ISRAEL BY MALACHI. 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 … Continue reading Malachi 1:1-4:6<\/em><\/h6>\n