Malachias 2

1 And now, O priests, this commandment is to you.

“And now, to you [is] this charge, O priests,

2 If ye will not hearken, and if ye will not lay [it] to heart, to give glory to my name, saith the Lord Almighty, then I will send forth the curse upon you, and I will bring a curse upon your blessing: yea, I will curse it, and I will scatter your blessing, and it shall not exist among you, because ye lay not this to heart.

If you do not listen, and if you do not lay [it] to heart, To give glory to My Name,” said YHWH of Hosts, “I have sent the curse against you, And I have cursed your blessings, Indeed, I have also cursed it, Because you are not laying [it] to heart.

3 Behold, I turn my back upon you, and I will scatter dung upon your faces, the dung of your feasts, and I will carry you away at the same time.

Behold, I am pushing away the seed before you, And have scattered dung before your faces, Dung of your festivals, And it has taken you away with it.

4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant might be with the sons of Levi, saith the Lord Almighty.

And you have known that I have sent this charge to you, For My covenant being with Levi,” said YHWH of Hosts.

5 My covenant of life and peace was with him, and I gave [it] him that he might reverently fear me, and that he might be awe-struck at my name.

“My covenant has been of life and of peace with him, And I make them a fear to him, and he fears Me, And because of My Name he has been frightened.

6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked before me directing [his way] in peace, and he turned many from unrighteousness.

The law of truth has been in his mouth, And perverseness has not been found in his lips, In peace and in uprightness he walked with Me, And he brought back many from iniquity.

7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.

For the lips of a priest preserve knowledge, And they seek law from his mouth, For he [is] a messenger of YHWH of Hosts.

8 But ye have turned aside from the way, and caused many to fail in [following] the law: ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord Almighty.

And you, you have turned from the way, You have caused many to stumble in the Law, You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” said YHWH of Hosts.

9 And I have made you despised and cast out among all the people, because ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

“And I also, I have made you despised and low before all the people, Because you are not keeping My ways, And are accepting by superficial things in the Law.”

10 Have ye not all one father? Did not one God create you? why have ye forsaken every man his brother, to profane the covenant of your fathers?

Have we not all one Father? Has not our God created us? Why do we deal treacherously, Each against his brother, To defile the covenant of our fathers?

11 Juda has been forsaken, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Juda has profaned the holy things of the Lord, which he delighted in, and has gone after other gods.

Judah has dealt treacherously, And abomination has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem, For Judah has defiled the holy thing of YHWH that He has loved, And has married the daughter of a strange god.

12 The Lord will utterly destroy the man that does these things, until he be even cast down from out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and from among them that offer sacrifice to the Lord Almighty.

YHWH cuts off the man who does it, Tempter and tempted—from the tents of Jacob, Even he who is bringing a present near to YHWH of Hosts.

13 And these things which I hated, ye did: ye covered with tears the altar of the Lord, and with weeping and groaning because of troubles: [is it] meet [for me] to have respect to your sacrifice, or to receive [anything] from your hands [as] welcome?

And you do this a second time, Covering the altar of YHWH with tears, With weeping and groaning, Because there is no more turning to the present, Or receiving of a pleasing thing from your hand.

14 Yet ye said, Wherefore? Because the Lord has borne witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, whom thou has forsaken, and [yet] she was thy partner, and the wife of thy covenant.

And you have said, “Why?” Because YHWH has testified between you And the wife of your youth, That you have dealt treacherously against her, And she [is] your companion, and your covenant-wife.

15 And did he not do well? and [there was] the residue of his spirit. But ye said, What does God seek but a seed? But take ye heed to your spirit, and forsake not the wife of thy youth.

And He did not make one [only], And a remnant of the Spirit [is] for him. And what [is] the one [alone]! He is seeking a godly seed. And you have been watchful over your spirit, And with the wife of your youth, None deal treacherously.

16 But if thou shouldest hate [thy wife] and put her away, saith the Lord God of Israel, then ungodliness shall cover thy thoughts, saith the Lord Almighty: therefore take ye heed to your spirit, and forsake [them] not,

“For He hates sending away,” said YHWH, God of Israel, “And he [who] has covered violence with his clothing,” said YHWH of Hosts, “And you have been watchful over your spirit, And you do not deal treacherously.”

17 ye that have provoked God with your words. But ye said, Wherein have we provoked him? In that ye say, Every one that does evil is a pleasing [object] in the sight of the Lord, and he takes pleasure in such; and where is the God of justice?

You have wearied YHWH with your words, And you have said, “In what have we wearied Him?” In your saying, “Every evildoer [is] good in the eyes of YHWH, And He is delighting in them,” Or, “Where [is] the God of judgment?”