Malachi 2
1 Now this command is for you priests!
And now, this commandment is for you, O ye priests.
2 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.
If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts: I will even send out against you a curse, and I will curse your blessings; yea, I will curse the same, because ye do not lay it to heart.
3 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.
Behold, I will destroy unto you the seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your festive offerings; and one shall take you away with it.
4 Then you will know that I sent you this command so that my agreement with Levi can continue, says the Lord Almighty.
And ye shall thereby know that I have sent out unto you this commandment, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
5 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.
My covenant was with him life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and because of my name he had dread.
6 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.
The law of truth was in his mouth, and falsehood was not found on his lips: in peace and equity he walked with me, and many did he turn away from iniquity.
7 A priest should explain the truth about God, they should go to him to be taught, for he is the Lord Almighty's messenger.
For the priest's lips are ever to keep knowledge, and the law are they to seek from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 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.
But ye are indeed departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble in the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of the Levite, saith the Lord of hosts.
9 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.
Therefore have I also made you contemptible and low before all the people, in the same measure as ye do not keep my ways, but act with partiality in the law.
10 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?
Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? [then] why shall we deal treacherously every man against his brother, to profane the covenant of our fathers?
11 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.
Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination hath been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the sanctuary of the Lord which he loveth, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
12 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!
The Lord will cut off unto the man that doth this, son and grandson, out of the tents of Jacob, and him that bringeth near an offering unto the Lord of hosts.
13 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.
And this do ye secondly, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with loud complaint, so that he turneth not any more his regard to the offerings, nor receiveth it with favor at your hand.
14 “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.
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast indeed dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
15 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.
And not one doth so who hath a remnant of a [good] spirit; for what desireth such a one? he seeketh [to possess] a godly posterity: therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none of you deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16 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.
For he hateth putting away [the wife], so hath said the Lord the God of Israel, and him who covereth his garment with violence, so hath said the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, and deal not treacherously.
17 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?
Ye have wearied the Lord with your words: yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? By your saying, Every one that doth evil is good in the eyes of the Lord, and in them he findeth delight; or else, Where is the God of justice!
