“And so then, O priests, this command is for you: ²If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart^a to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of hosts, “then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings; moreover I have already cursed them because you are not taking it to heart.^b ³Look! I am going to rebuke your offspring,^c and I will scatter offal on your faces, the offal of your religious feasts, and you will be carried to it.^d

⁴“Then you will know that I have sent to you this command, that my covenant with Levi continues,”^e says Yahweh of hosts. ⁵“My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. This required reverence, and he revered^f me and stood in awe before^g my name. ⁶The instruction of truth^h was in his mouth, and wickedness was not found on his lips. In peace and in uprightnessⁱ he walked with me, and he brought back many from sin.^j ⁷For the lips of the priest should guard knowledge, and they should seek instruction^k from his mouth, for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts. ⁸But you, you have turned from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction;^l you have ruined the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of hosts. ⁹“And in turn I have made you despised and humbled before all the people, inasmuch as you are not keeping^m my way, but are favoring your own instruction.”ⁿ

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

aLiterally, “place it on your heart”
bLiterally “you are not placing it on your heart”
cLiterally “for you the offspring”
dThe Hebrew is difficult. The subject is indefinite, and “it” likely refers to a refuse or waste pile
eLiterally “be”
fOr “feared”
gLiterally “from the face of”
hOr “law of truth”
iOr “rectitude,” or “fairness”
jOr “iniquity”
kOr “law”
lOr “the law”
mOr “observing”
nLiterally “lifting faces in the instruction/law”