Malachi 2

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

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

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 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 the shoulder to you, and I will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you 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 shall know that I sent you this commandment, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith 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 of life and peace: and I gave him fear: and he feared me, and he was afraid before 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 in his lips: he walked with me in peace, and in equity, and turned many away 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 priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the 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 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 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 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 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? 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 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 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.

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 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 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 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.

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: 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.

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 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 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 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.

‘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 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 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?’