Malachi 2

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

“Now, you priests, this command is for you.

2 If you will refuse to listen, and if you will refuse to take it to heart, so as to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, I will send destitution upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yes, I will curse them. For you have not taken 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 Behold, I will cast forth an arm to you, and I will scatter across your face the dung of your solemnities, and it will take you to itself.

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 know that I sent you this commandment, so that my covenant might be with Levi, says the Lord of hosts.

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 covenant was with him for life and peace. And I gave him fear, and he feared me, and he was afraid before the face of 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 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned away many from iniquity.

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 the lips of the priests will keep knowledge, and they will request the law from his mouth, because he is an angel of the Lord of hosts.

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8 But you have withdrawn from the way, and you have scandalized very many in the law. You have nullified the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts.

“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 Because of this, I also have made you contemptible and debased to all the people, just as you have not served my ways, and you have accepted a face in 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 Is there not one Father of us all? Did not one God create us? Why, then, does each one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant 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 transgressed, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has contaminated the sanctified of the Lord, which he loved, and has held 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 drive away the man who has done this, both the teacher and the disciple, from the tabernacles of Jacob and from those offering a gift to the Lord of hosts.

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 you have done this repeatedly: you have covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and bellowing, to such an extent that I no longer have respect towards the sacrifice, nor do I accept any appeasement that is from your hands.

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 And you have said, “What is the reason for this?” It is because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, whom you have despised. Yet she was your partner, and the wife of your covenant.

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 Did not One make her, and is she not the remainder of his spirit? And what does one seek, except offspring of God? So then, preserve your spirit, and do not despise the wife of your youth.

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 If you would hold hatred, dismiss her, says the Lord, the God of Israel. But iniquity will cover his garment, says the Lord of hosts. Preserve your spirit, and do not be willing to despise.

“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 wearied the Lord with your speeches, and you have said, “In what way, have we wearied him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and such as these please him,” or certainly, “Where is the God of judgment?”

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?”