Malachias 2

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

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

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 among you, because you lay not this to heart.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 covenant was with him of life and peace: and I gave him fear: and he feared me, and he was afraid before my name.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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 among them that offer sacrifice to the Lord Almighty.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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,

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.

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 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?