Contemplative Bible Reading

Malachi 1:14 (New Living Translation) 14 “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations! Cursed is the cheater. The cheater […]

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Malachi 2:3 (New Living Translation) 3 I will punish your descendants and splatter your faces with the manure from your festival sacrifices, and I will throw you on the manure pile. God is speaking to the people through the prophet Malachi. In particular, God is addressing the priests who have not been conducting the Temple […]

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Malachi 1:8 (New Living Translation) When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. If you are of a certain age, you […]

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Malachi 1:7-8 (New Living Translation) …“You defile them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect. 8 When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased?… A long time ago in a prior millennium, we had this saying—Sunday best. We […]

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Malachi 3:5 (New Living Translation) “At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people […]

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Malachi 1:2-3 (The Living Bible) “I have loved you very deeply,” says the LORD. But you retort, “Really? When was this?” And the LORD replies, “I showed my love for you by loving your father, Jacob. I didn’t need to. I even rejected his very own brother, Esau, and destroyed Esau’s mountains and inheritance, to give […]

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Malachi 3:5 (New Living Translation) “At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people […]

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Malachi 2:10 (New Living Translation) Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors? The prophet Malachi brings to mind something that was oft forgotten by God’s people in the Old Testament era. […]

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Malachi 3:8-12 (New International Version) 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in […]

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Malachi 4:6 (New International Version) He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” As a father, this verse stings me. God will turn my heart to my children. Have I turned […]

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