Malachi 1:7
in Malachi 1By presenting defiled food on My altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By saying that the table of the LORD is contemptible.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of Jehovah is contemptible.
KJV
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.
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This verse in Malachi 1
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Offering polluted bread upon Mine altar - This, continuing on the words, “despisers of My Name,” , is the answer to their question, “Wherein have we despised Thy Name?” “Bread” might stand, in itself, either for the showbread, or for the מנחה minchāh, meal-offering, which was the necessary accompaniment of sacrifices and sometimes the whole.
This site's exposition
A son honoureth his father
on Malachi 1:6-8
A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: the Lord presses the priests with the plainest household logic, asking where his honour and his fear are if he is truly their father and master. Their answer is not repentance but another skeptical question, Wherein have we despised thy name, and the Lord names it for them at once, polluted bread offered on his altar, food unfit for any earthly governor set before the King of heaven. The bench reads the priests' offense as contempt bred by familiarity, the sacred grown so routine that its corruption no longer registered to them as an insult.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 7) To you, O priests, who despise my name, and you say: 'How have we despised your name?' You offer on my altar defiled bread, and you say: 'How have we defiled you?' By saying that the table of the Lord is despised. LXX: You, O priests, who despise my name, and you say: 'How have we despised your name?' You offer on my altar polluted bread, and you say: 'How have we polluted it?'
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
There cannot be a greater provocation to God than the profanation of his name; for it is holy and reverend. His purity cannot be polluted by us, for he is unspotted, but his name may be profaned; and nothing profanes it more than the misconduct of priests, whose business it is to do honour to it.
5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The L ORD will be magnified from the border of Israel. The prophecy of this book is entitled, The burden of the word of the Lord (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
, You say to the people, If you offer the blind for sacrifice, it is not evil; or the lame and the sick, it is not evil. Note, It is a very evil thing, whether men think so or no, to offer the blind and the lame, the torn and the sick, in sacrifice to God.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
It is common with proud sinners, when they are reproved, to stand thus upon their own justification.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
ye offer, &c.--God's answer to their challenge (Mal 1:6), "Wherein have we despised?" polluted bread--namely, blemished sacrifices (Mal 1:8, 13, 14; So "the bread of thy God" is used for "sacrifices to God" (Le 21:8). polluted thee--that is, offered to thee "polluted bread." table of the Lord--that is, the altar (Eze 41:22) (not the table of showbread).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
Ye offer polluted bread - The priests, probably to ingratiate themselves with the people, took the refuse beasts, etc., and offered them to God; and thus the sacrificial ordinances were rendered contemptible.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַגִּישִׁ֤ים | magishim | [you are] bringing near | H5066 → | 125 times |
| עַֽל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מִזְבְּחִי֙ | mizbechi | altar my | H4196 → | 401 times |
| לֶ֣חֶם | lechem | food | H3899 → | |
| מְגֹאָ֔ל | megoal | defiled | H1351 → | 11 times |
| וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם | vaamartem | and you say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בַּמֶּ֣ה | bameh | <in> how? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| גֵֽאַלְנ֑וּךָ | gealnukha | have we defiled you | H1351 → | 11 times |
| בֶּאֱמָרְכֶ֕ם | beemarekhem | by saying you | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שֻׁלְחַ֥ן | shulchan | [the] table of | H7979 → | |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| נִבְזֶ֥ה | nivzeh | [is] despicable | H959 → | 44 times |
| הֽוּא׃ | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
מַגִּישִׁ֤ים[you are] bringing near
magishimH5066 →125 times
עַֽל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מִזְבְּחִי֙altar my
mizbechiH4196 →401 times
לֶ֣חֶםfood
lechemH3899 →
מְגֹאָ֔לdefiled
megoalH1351 →11 times
וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖םand you say
vaamartemH559 →5305 times
בַּמֶּ֣ה<in> how?
bamehH4100 →752 times
גֵֽאַלְנ֑וּךָhave we defiled you
gealnukhaH1351 →11 times
בֶּאֱמָרְכֶ֕םby saying you
beemarekhemH559 →5305 times
שֻׁלְחַ֥ן[the] table of
shulchanH7979 →
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
נִבְזֶ֥ה[is] despicable
nivzehH959 →44 times
הֽוּא׃it
hu'H1931 →1879 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Corinthians 10:21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.
it leads to
- Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and…
- 1 Kings 18:21
Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did…
- 2 Corinthians 6:15–17
What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
- Isaiah 65:11
But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
- 1 Corinthians 10:16
Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
- Matthew 6:24
Through
Malachi 1:8When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 15:21
But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
- Leviticus 22:19–25
must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for it to be accepted on your behalf.
- Hosea 8:13
Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to…
- Deuteronomy 15:21
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
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About Malachi
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Malachi; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.