In a recent sermon, Pastor Jimmy Gill of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, pointed to the chiastic structure of Malachi 1:6-14, neatly marked by a sevenfold repetition of the phrase “says Yahweh of hosts.”

A. Priests dishonor Yahweh their Father, 1:6a

                B. Blemished offerings on my altar, 1:6b-8

                                C. Will God be gracious to those who offer bad sacrifices, 1:9

                                                D. Stop kindling fire on my altar, 1:10

1. The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.

        2. He maketh me to lie down
        in green pastures:
        he leadeth me beside the still waters.

                3. He restoreth my soul:
                he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
                for his name's sake.

8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

        neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

                9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

        so are my ways higher than your ways,

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Bibliographic Reference

3. He is despised
and rejected of men;

        a man of sorrows,
        and acquainted with grief:

                and we hid as it were our faces from him;
                he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

        4. Surely he hath borne our griefs,
        and carried our sorrows:

yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted.

Bibliographic Reference

5. I was not rebellious,
neither turned away back.
        6. I gave my back to the smiters,
​        and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair:
I hid not my face
from shame and spitting.

​        7. For the Lord God will help me;
​        therefore shall I not be confounded:

​        ​        therefore have I set my face
​        ​        like a flint,

18. They have not known nor understood:
for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see;
and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

19. And none considereth in his heart,
neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say,

                I have burned
                part of it in the fire;

                yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof;
                I have roasted flesh, and eaten it:

1. Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant;
and Israel, whom I have chosen:
        2. Thus saith the Lord that made thee,
​        and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee;
Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou,
Jesurun, whom I have chosen.

​        3. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,
​        and floods upon the dry ground:

1. Thus saith the Lord,
Keep ye judgment,
and do justice:
        for my salvation is near to come,
​        and my righteousness to be revealed.
2. Blessed is the man that doeth this,
and the son of man that layeth hold on it;

that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it,
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

​        3. Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying,
​        The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: