“I have loved you,” says the class="small-caps" >Lord. Yet you ask, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” This is the class="small-caps" >Lord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob,

but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

Though Edom says, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies says this: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country and the people the class="small-caps" >Lord has cursed forever.

Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say, ‘The class="small-caps" >Lord is great, even beyond the borders of Israel.’

Disobedience of the Priests

“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 class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.” Yet you ask, “How have we despised your name?”

“By presenting defiled food on my altar.” “How have we defiled you?” you ask. When you say, “The class="small-caps" >Lord’s table is contemptible.”

“When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies.

“And now plead for God’s favor. Will he be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will he show any of you favor?” asks the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies.

“My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in my name in every place because my name will be great among the nations,” says the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies.

“But you are profaning it when you say, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.’

You also say, ‘Look, what a nuisance!’ And you scorn it,” says the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies. “You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?” asks the class="small-caps" >Lord.

“The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies, “and my name will be feared among the nations.

If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heart to honor my name,” says the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.

“Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it.

Then you will know that I sent you this decree, so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies.

“My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.

For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies.

“You, on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies.

“So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping my ways but are showing partiality in your instruction.”

Judah’s Marital Unfaithfulness

Don’t all of us have one Father? Didn’t one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?

Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable act has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the class="small-caps" >Lord’s sanctuary, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

May the class="small-caps" >Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, whoever he may be, even if he presents an offering to the class="small-caps" >Lord of Armies.

This is another thing you do. You are covering the class="small-caps" >Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because he no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.

And you ask, “Why?” Because even though the class="small-caps" >Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, you have acted treacherously against her. She was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant.

Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking? Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his youth.