< Malachi 2 >
1 And now, O you priests, this order is for you.
“Now, you priests, this command is for you.
2 If you will not give ear and take it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the Lord of armies, then I will send the curse on you and will put a curse on your blessing: truly, even now I have put a curse on it, because you do not take it to heart.
If you will not hear, and if you do not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says the Lord of hosts, “Then I will lay a curse on you. I will turn your blessings into curses. Indeed I have already done so, because you pay no attention.
3 See, I will have your arm cut off, and will put waste on your faces, even the waste from your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
I will punish your descendants! I will spread offal upon your faces, even the offal of your pilgrim feasts, you will be discarded.
4 And you will be certain that I have sent this order to you, so that it might be my agreement with Levi, says the Lord of armies.
You will then know that I have sent this command to you, so that my covenant with Levi may be preserved,” says the Lord of hosts.
5 My agreement with him was on my side life and peace, and I gave them to him; on his side fear, and he had fear of me and gave honour to my name.
“My covenant with him was to give life and peace. I gave them to him so that he might revere me. He revered me, and stood in awe of my name.
6 True teaching was in his mouth, and no evil was seen on his lips: he was walking with me in peace and righteousness, turning numbers of people away from evil-doing.
The true instruction was in his mouth, and injustice was not found in his lips; He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.
7 For it is right for the priest's lips to keep knowledge, and for men to be waiting for the law from his mouth: for he is the servant sent from the Lord of armies.
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But you are turned out of the way; you have made the law hard for numbers of people; you have made the agreement of Levi of no value, says the Lord of armies.
“But you have turned aside from that way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.
9 And so I have taken away your honour and made you low before all the people, even as you have not kept my ways, and have given no thought to me in using the law.
“So I have I made you contemptible and degraded before all the people, because you have not kept my ways, and have had no respect for me in imparting the law.”
10 Have we not all one father? has not one God made us? why are we, every one of us, acting falsely to his brother, putting shame on the agreement of our fathers?
Don’t we have all one father? Didn’t one God created us? Why do we deal faithlessly with one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?
11 Judah has been acting falsely, and a disgusting thing has been done in Jerusalem; for Judah has made unclean the holy place of the Lord which is dear to him, and has taken as his wife the daughter of a strange god.
Judah is treacherous, and abominations are committed in Israel and in Jerusalem because Judah has profaned the holy things loved by the Lord, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 The Lord will have the man who does this cut off root and branch out of the tents of Jacob, and him who makes an offering to the Lord of armies.
May the Lord banish from the community of Jacob anyone who does this, anyone awaking, testifying, and making an offering to the Lord of hosts.
13 And this again you do: covering the altar of the Lord with weeping and with grief, so that he gives no more thought to the offering, and does not take it with pleasure from your hand.
And you also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, because he doesn’t accept the offering any more, doesn’t accept it from your hand.
14 But you say, For what reason? Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your early years, to whom you have been untrue, though she is your friend and the wife to whom you have given your word.
Yet you ask, “Why?” Because the Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young. You have been unfaithful to her, even though she is your companion, and your legal wife.
15 ... So give thought to your spirit, and let no one be false to the wife of his early years.
Did not the one God make everyone, so that all both flesh and spirit is his? And what does that one God seek but godly children? Therefore keep watch over your spirit, and let none of you deal faithlessly with the wife of your youth.
16 For I am against the putting away of a wife, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and against him who is clothed with violent acts, says the Lord of armies: so give thought to your spirit and do not be false in your acts.
“A man who divorces or puts away his wife,” says Lord, the God of Israel, “overwhelms her with cruelty.” The Lord of hosts says: “Keep watch over your spirit, do not be unfaithful.”
17 You have made the Lord tired with your words. And still you say, How have we made him tired? By your saying, Everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of the Lord, and he has delight in them; or, Where is God the judge?
You have wearied the Lord with your words. You ask, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or, “Where is the God of justice?”