Malachi 2

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

Now this command is for you priests!

2 If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts: I will send poverty upon you, and will curse your blessings, yea I will curse them, because you have not laid it 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 will cast the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it.

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 sent you this commandment, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.

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 was with him of life and peace: and I gave him fear: and he feared me, and he was afraid before 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 with me in peace, and in equity, and turned many away from iniquity.

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 lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts.

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 departed out of the way, and have caused many to stumble at the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.

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 Therefore have I also made you contemptible, and base before all people, as you have not kept my ways, and have accepted persons 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 we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why then doth every one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our 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 hath transgressed, and abomination hath been committed in Israel, and in Jerusalem: for Juda hath profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange God.

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 cut off the man that hath done this, both the master, and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering to the Lord of hosts.

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 this again have you done, you have covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and bellowing, so that I have no more a regard to sacrifice, neither do I accept any atonement at your hands.

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 And you have said: For what cause? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee, and the wife of thy youth, whom thou hast despised: yet she was thy partner, and the wife of thy 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 Did not one make her, and she is the residue of his spirit? And what doth one seek, but the seed of God? Keep then your spirit, and despise not the wife of thy 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 When thou shalt hate her put her away, saith the Lord the God of Israel: but iniquity shall cover his garment, saith the Lord of hosts, keep your spirit, and despise 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 have wearied the Lord with your words, and you said: Wherein have we wearied him? In that you say: Every one that doth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please him: or surely where is the God of judgment?

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?