Passage
A sonne honoureth his father, and a seruant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my feare, sayth the Lord of hostes vnto you, O Priestes, that despise my Name? and yee say, Wherein haue we despised thy Name?
Nearby Context
Malachi 1:4 Though Edom say, wee are impouerished, but we will returne and build the desolate places, yet sayeth the Lord of hostes, they shall builde, but I will destroy it, and they shall call them, The border of wickednes, and the people, with whome the Lord is angrie for euer.
Malachi 1:5 And your eyes shall see it, and yee shall say, The Lord will be magnified vpon the border of Israel.
Malachi 1:6 A sonne honoureth his father, and a seruant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my feare, sayth the Lord of hostes vnto you, O Priestes, that despise my Name? and yee say, Wherein haue we despised thy Name?
Malachi 1:7 Ye offer vncleane bread vpon mine altar, and you say, Wherein haue we polluted thee? In that ye say the table of the Lord is not to be regarded.
Malachi 1:8 And if yee offer the blinde for sacrifice, it is not euill: and if ye offer the lame and sicke, it is not euill: offer it nowe vnto thy prince: will he be content with thee, or accept thy person, saieth the Lord of hostes?
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "sonne", "honoureth", "father", "seruant", "master", "where", and "mine". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sonne" and "honoureth", 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 it and..." into verse 7's "Ye offer vncleane bread vpon mine altar...", so "sonne" and "honoureth" 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 "sonne" and "honoureth" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.