American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
I have loved you, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? {Or, Is not Esau…yet I have loved &c.}Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith Jehovah: yet I loved Jacob;
A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if then I am a father, where is mine honor? and if I am a master, where is my fear? saith Jehovah of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
From the days of your fathers ye have turned aside from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts. But ye say, Wherein shall we return?
Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee?
And he shall {Some ancient authorities read come nigh before his face.}go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.
Yea and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High:For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to make ready his ways;