Malachi 1 - 2, Revelation 21, Song of Songs 7

Yahweh’s Love for Jacob

1The ¹^,^aoracle of the word of ²Yahweh to ^bIsrael by the hand of ³Malachi.

²“I have ^aloved you,” says Yahweh. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares Yahweh. “Yet I ^bhave loved Jacob; ³but I have hated Esau, and I have ^aset his mountains to be a desolation and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.” ⁴Though Edom says, “We have been ^ademolished, but we will ¹^,^breturn and build up the waste places”; thus says Yahweh of hosts, “They may ^cbuild, but I will pull down; and men will call them a ²territory of wickedness, and the people ³toward whom Yahweh is indignant ^dforever.” ⁵And your eyes will see this, and you will say, “^aYahweh ¹be magnified beyond the ²territory of Israel!”

The Priests Defile Yahweh

⁶“‘A son ^ahonors his father, and a slave his master. Then if I am a ^bfather, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is the fear of Me?’ says Yahweh of hosts to you, O ^cpriests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ ⁷“You are presenting ^adefiled ¹^,^bfood upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The ^ctable of Yahweh is to be despised.’ ⁸“But when you present the ^ablind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Please, bring it near to your ^bgovernor! Would he accept you? Or would he lift up your face?” says Yahweh of hosts. ⁹“But now, ¹^,^aentreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us! With this thing which is from your hand, will He ^blift up any of your faces?” says Yahweh of hosts. ¹⁰“Oh that there were one among you who would ^ashut the ¹gates, that you might not light a fire on My altar in vain! I have no delight in you,” says Yahweh of hosts, “^bnor will I accept an offering from your hand. ¹¹“For from the ^arising of the sun even to its setting, ^bMy name will be ^cgreat among the nations, and in every place ^dincense is going to be presented to My name, as well as a grain offering that is clean; for My name will be ^egreat among the nations,” says Yahweh of hosts. ¹²“But you are ^aprofaning it, in that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.’ ¹³“You also say, ‘Behold, how ^atiresome it is!’ And you disdainfully sniff at it,” says Yahweh of hosts, “and you bring what was taken by ^brobbery and what is ^clame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I ^daccept that from your hand?” says Yahweh. ¹⁴“But cursed be the ^aswindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a ¹^,^bblemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great ^cKing,” says Yahweh of hosts, “and My name is ²^,^dfeared among the ³nations.”

I Will Curse Your Blessings

2“And now this commandment is for you, O priests. ²“If you do ^anot listen, and if you do not set it upon your heart to give ¹honor to My name,” says Yahweh of hosts, “then I will send the ^bcurse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have ^ccursed them already because you are not setting it upon your heart. ³“Behold, I am going to ^arebuke your seed, and I will ^bspread ¹refuse on your faces, the ²refuse of your ^cfeasts; and you will be taken away ³with it. ⁴“Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, ¹that My ^acovenant may ²continue with Levi,” says Yahweh of hosts. ⁵“My covenant with him was one of life and ^apeace, and I gave them to him as something to be ¹feared; so he ^bfeared Me and stood in ²awe of My name. ⁶“¹^,^aInstruction of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked ^bwith Me in peace and uprightness, and he ^cturned many back from iniquity. ⁷“For the lips of a priest should keep ^aknowledge, and ¹men should ^bseek ²instruction from his mouth; for he is the ^cmessenger of Yahweh of hosts. ⁸“But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to ^astumble ¹by the instruction; you have ²^,^bcorrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of hosts. ⁹“So ^aI also have made you despised and ^blow ¹before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing ^cpartiality in the ²instruction.

Judah Profaned Yahweh’s Sanctuary

¹⁰“Do we not all have ^aone father? ^bHas not one God created us? Why do we deal ^ctreacherously each against his brother so as to profane the ^dcovenant of our fathers? ¹¹“Judah has dealt ^atreacherously, and an abomination has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has ^bprofaned the sanctuary of Yahweh ¹which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god. ¹²“As for the man who does this, may ^aYahweh cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers or who ^bpresents ¹an offering to Yahweh of hosts.

¹³“And this is a second thing you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with groaning because He ^ano longer regards the ¹offering or receives it as acceptable from your hand. ¹⁴“But you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because Yahweh has been a witness between you and the ^awife of your youth, against whom you have dealt ^btreacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. ¹⁵“¹But not one has ^adone so, even one who has a remnant of the Spirit. And ²what did that one do while he was seeking a ^bgodly seed? Be careful then to keep your spirit, and let no one deal ^ctreacherously against the wife of your youth. ¹⁶“For ¹I hate ²^,^adivorce,” says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and ³him who covers his garment with ⁴^,^bwrong,” says Yahweh of hosts. “Be careful then to keep your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

¹⁷You have ^awearied Yahweh with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “^bEveryone who does evil is good in the sight of Yahweh, and He ^cdelights in them,” or, “^dWhere is the God of ^ejustice?”

The New Heaven and Earth

21Then I saw ^aa new heaven and a new earth; for ^bthe first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. ²And I saw ^athe holy city, ^bnew Jerusalem, ^ccoming down out of heaven from God, ^dmade ready as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, ^athe tabernacle of God is among men, and He will ¹^,^bdwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among ²them, ⁴and He will ^awipe away every tear from their eyes; and ^bthere will no longer be any death; ^cthere will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. ^dThe first things passed away.”

⁵And ^aHe who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am ^bmaking all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for ^cthese words are faithful and true.” ⁶Then He said to me, “^aThey are done. I am the ^bAlpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. ^cI will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the ^dwater of life without cost. ⁷“^aHe who overcomes will inherit these things, and ^bI will be his God and he will be My son. ⁸“^aBut for the cowardly and ¹unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in ^bthe lake that burns with fire and ²brimstone, which is the ^csecond death.”

⁹^aThen one of the seven angels who have the ^bseven bowls ¹full of the ^cseven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “^dCome here, I will show you the ^ebride, the wife of the Lamb.”

New Jerusalem, the Holy City

¹⁰And ^ahe carried me away ¹^,^bin the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me ^cthe holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, ¹¹having ^athe glory of God. Her ¹brilliance was like precious stone, as a ^bstone of ^ccrystal-clear jasper. ¹²¹It had a great and high wall. ²It had ^atwelve ^bgates and at those gates, twelve angels; and names ³have been written on those gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. ¹³There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. ¹⁴And the wall of the city had ^atwelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the ^btwelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵And the one who spoke with me had a ¹gold measuring ^arod to measure the city and its ^bgates and its wall. ¹⁶And the city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the ¹rod, ²12,000 stadia; its length and width and height are equal. ¹⁷And he measured its wall, ¹144 cubits, according to ^ahuman ²measurements, which are also ^bangelic measurements. ¹⁸And the material of the wall was ^ajasper, and the city was ^bpure gold, like pure ^cglass. ¹⁹^aThe foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was ^bjasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, ^cemerald; ²⁰the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, ^asardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. ²¹And the twelve ^agates were twelve ^bpearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was ^cpure gold, like transparent ^dglass.

²²And I saw ^ano sanctuary in it, for the ^bLord God the Almighty and the ^cLamb are its sanctuary. ²³And the city ^ahas no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for ^bthe glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the ^cLamb. ²⁴^aAnd the nations will walk by its light, and the ^bkings of the earth ¹will bring their glory into it. ²⁵^aAnd its gates ^bwill never be closed by day, for ^cthere will be no night there; ²⁶and ^athey will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. ²⁷And ^anothing defiled, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those ¹whose names are ^bwritten in the Lamb’s book of life.

7“¹How beautiful are your ²feet in sandals,O ^anoble’s daughter!The curves of your thighs are like ornaments,The work of the hands of an artist.²“Your navel is like a round basinWhich never lacks mixed wine;Your belly is like a heap of wheatEncircled with lilies.³“Your ^atwo breasts are like two fawns,Twins of a gazelle.⁴“Your ^aneck is like a tower of ivory,Your eyes like the pools in ^bHeshbonBy the gate of Bath-rabbim;Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,Which faces toward Damascus.⁵“Your head ¹crowns you like ^aCarmel,And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads;The king is captivated by your tresses.⁶“How ^abeautiful and how pleasant you are,¹My love, with all your pleasures!⁷“¹Your stature is like a palm tree,And your breasts are like its clusters.⁸“I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree;I will seize its fruit stalks.’Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,And the fragrance of your ¹breath like ²^,^aapples,⁹And your ¹^,^amouth like the best wine!”“²It ^bgoes down smoothly for my beloved,Flowing gently through the lips of those who fall asleep.

The Union of Love

¹⁰“^aI am my beloved’s,And his ^bdesire is for me.¹¹“Come, my beloved, let us go out into the ¹fields,Let us spend the night in the villages.¹²“Let us rise early and go to the vineyards;Let us ^asee whether the vine has flourishedAnd its blossoms have opened,And whether the pomegranates have bloomed.There I will give you my love.¹³“The ^amandrakes have given forth fragrance;And over our doors are all ^bchoice fruits,Both new and old,Which I have treasured up for you, my beloved.