⁵ “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted^(A) and mourned in the fifth and seventh^(B) months for the past seventy years,^(C) was it really for me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?^(D)

Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices

⁶ “A son honors his father,^(A) and a slave his master.^(B) If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect^(C) due me?” says the Lord Almighty.^(D)

“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.

“But you ask,^(E) ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’

⁷ “By offering defiled food^(F) on my altar.

“But you ask,^(G) ‘How have we defiled you?’

“By saying that the Lord’s table^(H) is contemptible. ⁸ When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals,^(I) is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased^(J) with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.^(K)

²² For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands^(A) about burnt offerings and sacrifices,^(B)

³⁵ and make a fragrant blend of incense,^(A) the work of a perfumer.^(B) It is to be salted and pure and sacred.

The Grain Offering

2 “‘When anyone brings a grain offering^(A) to the Lord, their offering is to be of the finest flour.^(B) They are to pour olive oil^(C) on it,^(D) put incense on it^(E)