Malachias 2

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

Now this command is for you priests!

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

If you will not listen and if you will not take it to heart to honor me, says the Lord Almighty, then I will place a curse on you and I will curse your blessings—in fact I have already cursed them because you haven't taken what I said 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.

Watch out! I am going to penalize your descendants. I will spread manure on your faces from the animals you sacrifice, the manure from your religious festivals, and you will be thrown out with it.

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

Then you will know that I sent you this command so that my agreement with Levi can continue, says the Lord Almighty.

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 agreement with him was one of life and peace, which I gave to him, and respect—he respected me. He stood in awe of me.

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.

He taught the people the truth; nothing in his teaching was false. He walked with me in peace and did what was right, and he helped many to turn way from sin.

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.

A priest should explain the truth about God, they should go to him to be taught, for he is the Lord Almighty's messenger.

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

But you have turned from my way. You have made many people to fall into sin. By your teaching you have broken the agreement with Levi, says the Lord Almighty.

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

So I have destroyed any respect you had, and humiliated you before all the people. For you have not kept my ways, and have shown favoritism in what you teach.

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

Don't we all have one Father? Didn't one God create us? So why are we unfaithful to each other, violating the agreement made by our forefathers?

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.

The people of Judah have been unfaithful and have committed a disgusting sin in Israel and Jerusalem. For the men of Judah have defiled the Lord's Temple (which he loves) by marrying women who worship idols.

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 amongst them that offer sacrifice to the Lord Almighty.

May the Lord expel the family of any man who does this from the nation of Israel! May there be no one left to bring an offering to the Lord Almighty!

13 And these things which I hated, you did: you 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?

Something else you do is to pour out your tears on the Lord's altar weeping and moaning because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or doesn't want to accept them.

14 Yet you said, Therefore? Because the Lord has borne witness between you and the wife of your youth, whom you has forsaken, and [yet] she was your partner, and the wife of your covenant.

“Why not?” you ask. Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife exchanged when you were young. You were unfaithful to her, your wife and partner joined to you by marriage contract.

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

Did he not make you one, and give some of his Spirit to you? And what does he want? Children of God. So watch what you do, and don't be unfaithful to the wife you married when you were young.

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

For I hate divorce, says the Lord God of Israel, for it's a violent attack on the wife, says the Lord Almighty. So watch what you do, and don't be unfaithful.

17 you that have provoked God with your words. But you said, Wherein have we provoked him? In that you 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 worn the Lord out with your words. “How have we worn him out?” you ask. By saying everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he is happy with them, or by asking, where is the Lord's justice?