Malachi 2

1 Now this command is for you priests!

And now, O priests, this command is to you.

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 you will refuse to listen, and if you will refuse to take it to heart, so as to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, I will send destitution upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yes, I will curse them. For you have not taken 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 cast forth an arm to you, and I will scatter across your face the dung of your solemnities, and it will take you to itself.

4 Then you will know that I sent you this command so that my agreement with Levi can continue, says the Lord Almighty.

And you will know that I sent you this commandment, so that my covenant might be with Levi, says 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 for life and peace. And I gave him fear, and he feared me, and he was afraid before the face of my name.

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 iniquity was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned away many 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 lips of the priests will keep knowledge, and they will request the law from his mouth, because he is an angel 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But you have withdrawn from the way, and you have scandalized very many in the law. You have nullified the covenant of Levi, says 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.

Because of this, I also have made you contemptible and debased to all the people, just as you have not served my ways, and you have accepted a face 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?

Is there not one Father of us all? Did not one God create us? Why, then, does each one of us despise his brother, violating 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 has transgressed, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has contaminated the sanctified of the Lord, which he loved, and has held 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 drive away the man who has done this, both the teacher and the disciple, from the tabernacles of Jacob and from those offering a gift to 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 you have done this repeatedly: you have covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and bellowing, to such an extent that I no longer have respect towards the sacrifice, nor do I accept any appeasement that is from your hands.

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.

And you have said, “What is the reason for this?” It is because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, whom you have despised. Yet she was your partner, and the wife of your 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.

Did not One make her, and is she not the remainder of his spirit? And what does one seek, except offspring of God? So then, preserve your spirit, and do not despise the wife of your 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.

If you would hold hatred, dismiss her, says the Lord, the God of Israel. But iniquity will cover his garment, says the Lord of hosts. Preserve your spirit, and do not be willing to despise.

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?

You have wearied the Lord with your speeches, and you have said, “In what way, have we wearied him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and such as these please him,” or certainly, “Where is the God of judgment?”