Malachi 1:6 (DRB)

Passage

The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear: saith the Lord of hosts.

Nearby Context

Malachi 1:4 But if Edom shall say: We are destroyed, but we will return and build up what hath been destroyed: thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall build up, and I will throw down: and they shall be called the borders of wickedness, and the people with whom the Lord is angry for ever.

Malachi 1:5 And your eyes shall see: and you shall say: The Lord be magnified upon the border of Israel.

Malachi 1:6 The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear: saith the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 1:7 To you, O priests, that despise my name, and have said: Wherein have we despised thy name? You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and you say: Wherein have we polluted thee? In that you say: The table of the Lord is contemptible.

Malachi 1:8 If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? offer it to thy prince, if he will be pleased with it, or if he will regard thy face, saith the Lord of hosts.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "honoureth", "father", "servant", "master", and "where". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "honoureth" 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 you..." into verse 7's "To you O priests that despise my...", so "honoureth" 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 "honoureth" and "father" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.