1 The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel by the hand of Malachi.
2 I have loved you, said the Lord. Yet ye say, In what hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? said the Lord; yet I loved Jacob,
3 and I rejected Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
4 When Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus hath the Lord of the hosts said, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The province of wickedness and The people against whom the Lord has indignation for ever.
5 And your eyes shall see and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified over the province of Israel.
6 The son honours his father and the slave his master; if then I am a father, where is my honour? and if I am a master, where is my fear? said the Lord of the hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, In what have we despised thy name?
7 Ye offer polluted bread upon my altar; and ye say, In what have we polluted thee? In that ye say, We die of hunger in the service of the Lord.