A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if then I am a father, where is mine honor? and if I am a master, where is my fear? saith Jehovah of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
Malachi 1:4 Whereas Edom saith, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places; thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and men shall call them The border of wickedness, and The people against whom Jehovah hath indignation for ever.
Malachi 1:5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, Jehovah be magnified beyond the border of Israel.
Malachi 1:6 A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if then I am a father, where is mine honor? and if I am a master, where is my fear? saith Jehovah of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
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 Jehovah is contemptible.
Malachi 1:8 And when ye offer the blind for sacrifice, it is no evil! and when ye offer the lame and sick, it is no evil! Present it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee? or will he accept thy person? saith Jehovah of hosts.
The verse centers on "honoreth", "father", "servant", "master", "where", and "mine". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "honoreth" and "father", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 5's "And your eyes shall see and ye..." into verse 7's "Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar...", so "honoreth" and "father" belong inside that flow. In Malachi context, the local focus is covenant faithfulness, priestly corruption, divine justice, and the coming day of the LORD.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "honoreth" and "father" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.