1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of Malachi.
2 I have loved you, says the Lord, and you have said, "In what way have you loved us?" Was not Esau brother to Jacob, says the Lord? And have I not loved Jacob,
3 but held hatred for Esau? And I have set his mountains in solitude, and his inheritance with the serpents of the desert.
4 But if Idumea will say, "We have been destroyed, but when we return, we will build up what has been destroyed," thus says the Lord of hosts: They will build up, and I will destroy. And they will be called "The limits of impiety," and, "The people with whom the Lord has been angry, even to eternity."
5 And your eyes will see. And you will say, "May the Lord be magnified beyond the limits of Israel."
6 The son honors the father, and the servant his master. If, therefore, I am Father, where is my honor? And if I am Master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. And you have said, "In what way, have we despised your name?"