Malachi 1:7
“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.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →God names the priests' sin: they bring defiled offerings to the altar and treat the LORD's table as something to be despised.
What Does Malachi 1:7 Mean?
God answers His own people's question. The contempt they could not see was in their offerings: polluted bread laid on the holy altar, gifts unworthy of the One who receives them. Behind the careless gift lay a careless thought, that the LORD's table was 'contemptible,' a matter too small to take seriously. The outward act exposed the inward attitude.
What we bring to God reveals what we think of God. To set a second-rate offering on His altar is to say, by action if not by word, that He deserves the leftovers. The table of the LORD is never trivial; it is the place where heaven meets a worshiping heart. This verse calls every believer to examine not just the substance of what we give but the spirit in which we give it. The God who would later spread a table of His own body and blood is worthy of our best, our first, our undivided devotion.
In the Original Language
ga'al (גָּאַל), 'polluted' -- to defile or render unclean, staining what was meant to be holy.