Malachias 2

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

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

2 If ye will not hearken, and if ye will not lay [it] to heart, to give glory to my name, saith the Lord Almighty, then I will send forth the curse upon you, and I will bring a curse upon your blessing: yea, I will curse it, and I will scatter your blessing, and it shall not exist among you, because ye lay not this 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 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.

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 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant might be with the sons of Levi, saith the Lord Almighty.

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

8 But ye have turned aside from the way, and caused many to fail in [following] the law: ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord Almighty.

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 And I have made you despised and cast out among all the people, because ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial 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 Have ye not all one father? Did not one God create you? why have ye forsaken every man his brother, to profane the covenant of your 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 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.

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 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.

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 And these things which I hated, ye did: ye 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 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 ye said, Wherefore? Because the Lord has borne witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, whom thou has forsaken, and [yet] she was thy partner, and the wife of thy 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 And did he not do well? and [there was] the residue of his spirit. But ye said, What does God seek but a seed? But take ye heed to your spirit, and forsake not the wife of thy 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 But if thou shouldest hate [thy wife] and put her away, saith the Lord God of Israel, then ungodliness shall cover thy thoughts, saith the Lord Almighty: therefore take ye heed to your spirit, and forsake [them] not,

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 ye that have provoked God with your words. But ye said, Wherein have we provoked him? In that ye 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?

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?'