Malachi 2
1 Now, therefore, for you, is this charge, O ye priests: —
Now this command is for you priests!
2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my Name, saith Yahweh of hosts, then will I send among you the curse, and will curse your blessings, —and indeed I have cursed them, because ye are not at all laying 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 me! threatening, on your account, the seed, and I will scatter refuse upon your faces, the refuse of your festivals, —and one shall carry you away unto 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 So shall ye know that I sent unto you this charge, —as being my covenant with Levi, saith Yahweh 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, Life and Well-being, so I gave them to him—[I] as One to be revered— and he did revere me, — and, before my Name, dismayed, was he.
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 deliverance of truth, was in his mouth, and, perverseness, was not found in his lips, — In well-doing and in uprightness, walked he with me, and, multitudes, did he turn 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 a priest, should keep knowledge, and, a deliverance, should men seek at his mouth, — for, the messenger of Yahweh of hosts, he is.
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, ye, have departed out of the way, ye have caused multitudes to stumble at the deliverance, — ye have violated the covenant of Levi, saith Yahweh 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, I also, will suffer you to be despised and of no account unto all the people, —in proportion as none of you have been keeping my ways, but have had respect to persons, in giving your deliverance.
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 Is there not, one Father, to us all? Did not, one GOD, create us? Wherefore should we deal treacherously one with another, profaning 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 Judah, hath dealt treacherously, and, an abomination, hath been wrought in Israel, and in Jerusalem, — for Judah, had profaned, the holy place of Yahweh, which he had loved, and hath taken to himself the daughter of a foreign 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 May Yahweh, cut off, from the man that doeth it—him that crieth out and him that answereth, out of the tents of Jacob, — him also that bringeth near a present to Yahweh 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, a second time, will ye do, covering with tears, the altar of Yahweh, weeping and making outcry, —because he will not again turn unto the gift, and receive [it] with acceptance, 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 Yet ye say, For what cause? Because, Yahweh, hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, with whom, thou, hast dealt treacherously, though, she, was thy consort, and thy covenant wife.
“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 Now was it not, One, [who] made [you] who had, the residue of the spirit? What, then, of that One? He was seeking a godly seed. Therefore should ye take heed to your spirit, and, with the wife of thy youth, do not thou deal treacherously.
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 For he hateth divorce, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, him also who covereth with violence his own clothing, saith Yahweh of hosts, —therefore should ye take heed to your spirit, and not deal treacherously.
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 Ye have wearied Yahweh with your words, and yet ye say, Wherein have we been wearisome? When ye have said, Everyone who doeth wrong, is right in the eyes of Yahweh, and, in them, he hath taken delight, or, Where is the God of justice?
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?
