Discovery BoxMalachi 1:7 
Context1:7 You are offering improper sacrifices on my altar, yet you ask, ‘How have we offended you?’ By treating the table 1 of the Lord as if it is of no importance!
Malachi 1:9
Context1:9 But now plead for God’s favor 2 that he might be gracious to us. 3 “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.
Malachi 2:13
Context2:13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears 4 as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you.
Malachi 3:3
Context3:3 He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering.
1 sn The word table, here a synonym for “altar,” has overtones of covenant imagery in which a feast shared by the covenant partners was an important element (see Exod 24:11). It also draws attention to the analogy of sitting down at a common meal with the governor (v. 8).
2 tn Heb “seek the face of God.”
3 tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunction indicates purpose (cf. NASB, NRSV).
4 sn You cover the altar of the
