¹“And now, you priests, this warning is for you. ²If you won’t listen and if you won’t consider giving honor to my name,” says the Lord of Armies, “then I’ll send a curse on you, and I’ll curse the blessings you give. Yes, I’ve already cursed them because you don’t carefully consider this.

³“I’m going to punish your descendants. I’m going to spread excrement on your faces, the excrement from your festival sacrifices. You will be discarded with it. ⁴Then you will know that I sent you this warning so that my promise^ato Levi will continue,” says the Lord of Armies. ⁵“I promised Levi life and peace. I gave them to him so that he would respect me. He respected me and stood in awe of my name. ⁶The teaching that came from his mouth was true. Nothing unjust was found on his lips. He lived with me in peace and honesty and turned many people away from sin.

⁷“A priest’s lips should preserve knowledge. Then, because he is the messenger for the Lord of Armies, people will seek instruction from his mouth.

⁸“But you have turned from the ⸤correct⸥ path and caused many to stumble over my teachings. You have corrupted the promise made to Levi,” says the Lord of Armies. ⁹“So I have made you disgusting, and I have humiliated you in front of all the people, because you have not followed my ways. You have been unfair when ⸤applying⸥ my teachings.”

Read in Logos

Malachi 2:5: My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.

Footnotes

a 2:4 Or “covenant.”