1 A prophecy:^(A) The word^(B) of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.^[a]

Israel Doubts God’s Love

² “I have loved^(C) you,” says the Lord.

“But you ask,^(D) ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,^{(E) 3} but Esau I have hated,^(F) and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland^(G) and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.^(H)”

⁴ Edom^(I) may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild^(J) the ruins.”

But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish.^(K) They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.^{(L) 5} You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great^(M) is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’^(N)

Breaking Covenant Through Divorce

¹⁰ Do we not all have one Father^[a]?^(A) Did not one God create us?^(B) Why do we profane the covenant^(C) of our ancestors by being unfaithful^(D) to one another?

¹¹ Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable^(E) thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves^(F) by marrying^(G) women who worship a foreign god.^{(H) 12} As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove^(I) him from the tents of Jacob^[b](J)—even though he brings an offering^(K) to the Lord Almighty.

¹³ Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears.^(L) You weep and wail^(M) because he no longer looks with favor^(N) on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.^{(O) 14} You ask,^(P) “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness^(Q) between you and the wife of your youth.^(R) You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.^(S)

¹⁵ Has not the one God made you?^(T) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.^[c](U) So be on your guard,^(V) and do not be unfaithful^(W) to the wife of your youth.

¹⁶ “The man who hates and divorces his wife,^(X)” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”^[d](Y) says the Lord Almighty.

So be on your guard,^(Z) and do not be unfaithful.