Malachi 2

1 "Now, you cohanim, this commandment is for you.

And now, to you [is] this charge, O priests,

2 If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name," says the LORD of hosts, "then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.

If ye hearken not, and if ye lay [it] not to heart, To give honour to My name, said Jehovah of Hosts, I have sent against you the curse, And I have cursed your blessings, Yea, I have also cursed it, Because ye are not laying [it] to heart.

3 Look, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

Lo, I am pushing away before you the seed, And have scattered dung before your faces, Dung of your festivals, And it hath taken you away with it.

4 You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi," says the LORD of hosts.

And ye have known that I have sent unto you this charge, For My covenant being with Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

5 "My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.

My covenant hath been with him of life and of peace, And I make them to him a fear, and he doth fear Me, And because of My name he hath been affrighted.

6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.

The law of truth hath been in his mouth, And perverseness hath not been found in his lips, In peace and in uprightness he walked with Me, And many he brought back from iniquity.

7 For the cohen's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

For the lips of a priest preserve knowledge, And law they do seek from his mouth, For a messenger of Jehovah of Hosts he [is].

8 But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of hosts.

And ye, ye have turned from the way, Ye have caused many to stumble in the law, Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

9 "Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.

And I also, I have made you despised and low before all the people, Because ye are not keeping My ways, And are accepting persons in the law.

10 Do we not all have one father? Hasn't one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Have we not all one father? Hath not our God prepared us? Wherefore do we deal treacherously, Each against his brother, To pollute the covenant of our fathers?

11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

Dealt treacherously hath Judah, And abomination hath been done in Israel, and in Jerusalem, For polluted hath Judah the holy thing of Jehovah, That He hath loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

12 The LORD will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to the LORD of hosts.

Cut off doth Jehovah the man who doth it, Tempter and tempted — from the tents of Jacob, Even he who is bringing nigh a present to Jehovah of Hosts.

13 This again you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn't regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.

And this a second time ye do, Covering with tears the altar of Jehovah, With weeping and groaning, Because there is no more turning unto the present, Or receiving of a pleasing thing from your hand.

14 Yet you say, 'Why?' Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.

And ye have said, 'Wherefore?' Because Jehovah hath testified between thee And the wife of thy youth, That thou hast dealt treacherously against her, And she thy companion, and thy covenant-wife.

15 Did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Ruach? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

And He did not make one [only], And He hath the remnant of the Spirit. And what [is] the one [alone]! He is seeking a godly seed. And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And with the wife of thy youth, None doth deal treacherously.

16 For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with violence." says the LORD of hosts. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.

For [I] hate sending away, said Jehovah, God of Israel, And He [who] hath covered violence with his clothing, said Jehovah of Hosts, And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And ye do not deal treacherously.

17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, 'How have we wearied him?' In that you say, 'Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them;' or 'Where is the God of justice?'

Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words, And ye have said: 'In what have we wearied Him?' In your saying: 'Every evil-doer [is] good in the eyes of Jehovah, And in them He is delighting,' Or, 'Where [is] the God of judgment?'