Atlas Biblica

    Malachi · 14 verses

    Malachi 1

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    At the altar, a vow for an acceptable male ends with a defective animal instead—a remarkably precise bait-and-switch, carried out under the gaze of the great King.

    Love, with Edom in the marginvv. 1–5

    Malachi carries a burden from the LORD to Israel, beginning with love and immediately meeting a puzzled question: “How have You loved us?” The answer arrives by way of Jacob and Esau. Jacob is loved; Esau is hated, his mountains made wasteland, and his inheritance left to desert jackals. Edom may announce plans to rebuild, but the LORD declares that the rebuilding will be demolished, until even the borders of Israel become a stage for the LORD’s greatness.

    The altar and the governorvv. 6–10

    The LORD turns from the nations to the priests, who despise His name while asking how they have done so. The answer is sitting on the altar: defiled food, blind animals, lame ones, and sick ones. The proposed test is wonderfully plain—offer them to the governor and see whether he is pleased. The temple’s grand activity reaches its anticlimax in a wish that somebody would simply shut the doors, since the fires have become useless and the offerings unwanted.

    A great name and a small deceptionvv. 11–14

    The rejection of these offerings is not a retreat from sacrifice. The LORD’s name will be great among the nations, from sunrise to sunset, with incense and pure offerings in every place. The priests, meanwhile, call the table defiled, its food contemptible, and the whole business a nuisance; then they turn up their noses and bring what is stolen, lame, or sick. The final figure is the deceiver who possesses an acceptable male, vows to give it, and quietly substitutes a defective animal. A very small exchange, one would think—unless the recipient is a great King.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Mal 1:1This is the burden of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi:

    2. Mal 1:2“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you ask, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved,

    3. Mal 1:3but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

    4. Mal 1:4Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.

    5. Mal 1:5You will see this with your own eyes, and you yourselves will say, ‘The LORD is great—even beyond the borders of Israel.’”

    6. Mal 1:6“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’

    7. Mal 1:7By presenting defiled food on My altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By saying that the table of the LORD is contemptible.

    8. Mal 1:8When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the LORD of Hosts.

    9. Mal 1:9“But ask now for God’s favor. Will He be gracious? Since this has come from your hands, will He show you favor?” asks the LORD of Hosts.

    10. Mal 1:10“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

    11. Mal 1:11For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of Hosts.

    12. Mal 1:12“But you profane it when you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is contemptible.’

    13. Mal 1:13You also say: ‘Oh, what a nuisance!’ And you turn up your nose at it,” says the LORD of Hosts. “You bring offerings that are stolen, lame, or sick! Should I accept these from your hands?” asks the LORD.

    14. Mal 1:14“But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.’’

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 275 passages were voted onto 14 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 6Luke 6:46Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I say?
    • 6Isaiah 1:2Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
    • 6John 13:13–17You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am.
    • 6Exodus 20:12Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
    • 61 Peter 2:17–19Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
    • 6Hosea 12:8And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”
    • 6Malachi 3:13–14“Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
    • 8Deuteronomy 15:21But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
    • 6Proverbs 30:17As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.
    • 6Titus 2:9–10Slaves are to submit to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,
    • 6Ephesians 6:2“Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise),
    • 8Leviticus 22:19–25must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for it to be accepted on your behalf.
    • 2Jeremiah 31:3The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
    • 6Jeremiah 5:30–31A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land.
    • 11Isaiah 45:6so that all may know, from where the sun rises to where it sets, that there is none but Me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
    • 2Isaiah 41:8–9“But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—

    Onward

    Keep reading

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