1   
The burden of the word of þe; Lord to Israel by ^note Malachi.

2   
I haue loued you, sayth the Lord: yet yee say, Wherein hast thou loued vs? was not Esau Iacobs brother, sayth the Lord? yet I ^note loued Iacob,

3   
And I hated Esau, and layde his mountaines, and his heritage waste, for the dragons of the wildernesse.

4   
Whereas Edom sayth, Wee are impouerished, but we will returne and build the desolate places; Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, They shal build, but I will throw downe; and they shal call them, The border of wickednesse, ∧ the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for euer.

5   
And your eyes shall see, and yee shall say; The Lord will be magnified ^note from the border of Israel.

6   
¶ A sonne honoureth his father,

The people, and Priests, reproued. and a seruant his Master. If then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a Master, where is my feare, saith the Lord of hostes, vnto you O priests, that despise my name? and yee say, Wherein haue we despised thy name?

7   
^noteYee offer polluted bread vpon mine altar; and yee say, Wherein haue we polluted thee? In that yee say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.

8   
And if hee offer the blind ^note for sacrifice, is it not euill? and if yee offer the lame and sicke, is it not euill? offer it now vnto thy gouernour: will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hostes?

9   
And now I pray you, beseech ^note God, that hee will be gracious vnto vs: this hath beene ^note by your meanes: will he regard your persons, saith the Lord of hostes?

10   
Who is there euen among you that would shut the doores for nought? neither doe yee kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I haue no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hostes, neither will I accept an ^note offring at your hand.

11   
For from the rising of the Sunne, euen vnto the going downe of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in euery place incense shall be offered vnto my name, and a pure offring: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hostes.

12   
¶ But yee haue prophaned it, in that yee say; The table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruite thereof, euen his meate, is contemptible.

13   
Yee said also; Behold what a wearinesse is it, and ^note yee haue snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hostes, and yee brought that which was torne, and the lame, and the sicke: thus yee brought an offring: should I accept this of your hand, saith the Lord?

14   
But cursed be the deceiuer, ^note which hath in his flocke a male, and voweth and sacrificeth vnto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hostes, and my name is dreadfull among the heathen. 927 CHAP. II. 1 He sharpely reprooueth the Priests for neglecting their couenant. 11 and the people for idolatrie, 14 for adulterie, 17 and for infidelitie. The people, and Priests, reproued.

1   
And now, O yee Priests, this commaundement is for you.

2   
If ye will not heare, and if yee will not lay it to heart, to giue glory vnto my name, saith the Lord of hostes; I will euen send a ^note curse vpon you, and will curse your blessings: yea, I haue cursed them already, because yee doe not lay it to heart.

3   
Behold, I will ^note corrupt your seed, and ^note spread doung vpon your faces, euen the doung of your solemne feasts, and ^note one shall take you away with it.

4   
And yee shall know that I haue sent this commaundement vnto you, that my couenant might be with Leui, saith the Lord of hostes.

5   
My couenant was with him of life and peace, and I gaue them to him, for the feare, wherewith he feared mee, and was afraid before my name.

6   
The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquitie was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equitie, and did turne many away from iniquitie.

7   
For the priests lips should keepe knowledge, and they should seeke the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hostes.

8   
But yee are departed out of the way: ye haue caused many to ^note stumble at the law: ye haue corrupted the couenant of Leui, saith the Lord of hostes.

9   
Therefore haue I also made you contemptible and base before al the people, according as yee haue not kept my wayes, but ^note haue bin partiall in þe; law.

10   
^noteHaue we not all one father? hath not one God created vs? Why doe we deale treacherously euery man against his brother, by prophaning the couenant of our fathers?

11   
¶ Iudah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Ierusalem: for Iudah hath prophaned the holinesse of the Lord which ^note he loued, and hath maried the daughter of a strange God.

12   
The Lord will cut off the man that doth this: the ^note Master and the scholler out of the tabernacles of Iacob, and him that offereth an offring vnto the Lord of hostes.

13   
And this haue yee done againe, couering the Altar of the Lord with

God witnesseth against sinners. teares, with weeping and with crying out, in so much that hee regardeth not the offering any more, or receiueth it with good will at your hand.

14   
¶ Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath bene witnes betweene thee and the wife of thy youth, against whome thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy couenant.

15   
And did not he make one? yet had he the ^note residue of the spirit: and wherefore one? that hee might seeke ^note a godly seed: therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deale ^note treacherously against the wife of his youth.

16   
For the Lord the God of Israel saith, that ^note he hateth ^note putting away: for one couereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts, therfore take heed to your spirit, that ye deale not treacherously.

17   
¶ Ye haue wearied the Lord with your words: yet ye say, Wherein haue we wearied him? when ye say, Euery one that doeth euill, is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them, or where is the God of iudgement? 928 CHAP. III. 1 Of the Messenger, Maiesty, & Grace of Christ. 7 Of the rebellion, 8 sacriledge, 13 and infidelitie of the people. 16 The promise of blessing to them that feare God.

1   
Beholde, I ^note will send my messenger, and he shal prepare the way before mee: and the Lord whom ye seeke, shall suddenly come to his Temple: euen þe; messenger of the Couenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

2   
But who may abide the day of his comming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiners fire, and like fullers sope.

3   
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of siluer: and he shall purifie the sonnes of Leui, and purge them as gold ∧ siluer, that they may offer vnto the Lord an offring in righteousnes.

4   
Then shall the offerings of Iudah and Ierusalem bee pleasant vnto the Lord, as in the dayes of old, and as in ^note former yeeres.

5   
And I will come neere to you to iudgement, and I will bee a swift witnesse against the sorcerers, and against God witnesseth against sinners. the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that ^note oppresse the hireling in his wages, the widowe, and the fatherlesse, and that turne aside the stranger from his right, and feare not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

6   
For I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sonnes of Iacob are not consumed.

7   
¶ Euen from the dayes of your fathers yee are gone away from mine ordinances, and haue not kept them: ^note returne vnto me, and I will returne vnto you, saith the Lord of hosts: But ye said, Wherein shall we returne?

8   
¶ Wil a man rob God? yet ye haue robbed me. But ye say, Wherein haue we robbed thee? In tithes ∧ offerings.

9   
Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye haue robbed me, euen this whole nation.

10   
Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, that there may be meate in mine house, ∧ proue me now herewith, saith the Lord of hostes, if I will not open you the ^note windowes of heauen, and ^note powre you out a blessing, that there shall not be roome enough to receiue it.

11   
And I wil rebuke the deuourer for your sakes: and he shal not ^note destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shal your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

12   
And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

13   
¶ Your words haue bin ^note stout against me, saith the Lord, yet ye say, What haue we spoken so much against thee?

14   
Ye haue said, It is vaine to serue God: and what profit is it, that we haue kept his ^note ordinance, and that wee haue walked ^note mournfully before the Lord of hosts?

15   
And now we call the proud happy: yea, they that worke wickednes ^note are set vp, yea they that ^note tempt God, are euen deliuered.

16   
¶ Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, ∧ a booke of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, ∧ that thought vpon his name.

17   
And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make vp my ^note iewels, and I wil spare them as a man spareth his owne sonne that serueth him.

The comming, and Office of Eliiah.

18   
Then shall yee returne and discerne betweene the righteous and the wicked, betweene him that serueth God, and him that serueth him not. 929 CHAP. IIII. 1 Gods iudgement on the wicked, 2 and his blessing on the good. 4 Hee exhorteth to the studie of the Law, 5 and telleth of Eliiahs comming, and Office.

1   
For beholde, the day commeth, that shall burne as an ouen, and all the proud, yea and all that doe wickedly shalbe stubble: and the day that commeth, shal burne them vp, saith the Lord of hostes, that it shall leaue them neither roote nor branch.

2   
¶ But vnto you that feare my The comming, and Office of Eliiah. Name, shall the ^note Sunne of righteousnesse arise with healing in his wings, and shall goe foorth and grow vp as calues of the staule.

3   
And yee shall treade downe the wicked: for they shall bee ashes vnder the soles of your feet, in the day that I shall doe this, saith the Lord of hosts.

4   
¶ Remember yee the ^note Law of Moses my seruant, which I commanded vnto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the Statutes and iudgements.

5   
¶ Beholde, I will send you ^note Eliiah the Prophet, before the comming of the great and dreadfull day of the Lord.

6   
And hee shall turne the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. The end of the Prophets.

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