Malachi 2–3

Chapter 2

Priests to Be Disciplined

¹“And now this commandment is for you, O priests.

²“If you do ^anot listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “then I will send the ^bcurse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have ^ccursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.

³“Behold, I am going to ^arebuke your ¹offspring, and I will ^bspread ²refuse on your faces, the refuse of your ^cfeasts; and you will be taken away ³with it.

⁴“Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, ¹that My ^acovenant may ²continue with Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.

⁵“My covenant with him was one of life and ^apeace, and I gave them to him as an object of ¹reverence; so he ^2brevered Me and stood in awe of My name.

⁶“^1aTrue instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked ^bwith Me in peace and uprightness, and he ^cturned many back from iniquity.

⁷“For the lips of a priest should preserve ^aknowledge, and ¹men should ^bseek ²instruction from his mouth; for he is the ^cmessenger of the Lord of hosts.

⁸“But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to ^astumble ¹by the instruction; you have ^2bcorrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.

⁹“So ^aI also have made you despised and ^babased ¹before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing ^cpartiality in the ²instruction.

Sin in the Family

¹⁰“Do we not all have ^aone father? ^bHas not one God created us? Why do we deal ^ctreacherously each against his brother so as to profane the ^dcovenant of our fathers?

¹¹“Judah has dealt ^atreacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has ^bprofaned the sanctuary of the Lord ¹which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

¹²“As for the man who does this, may the ^aLord cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers, or who ^bpresents ¹an offering to the Lord of hosts.

¹³“This is ¹another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He ^ano longer regards the ²offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

¹⁴“Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the ^awife of your youth, against whom you have dealt ^btreacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

¹⁵“¹But not one has ^adone so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And ²what did that one do while he was seeking a ^bgodly ³offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal ^ctreacherously against the wife of your youth.

¹⁶“For ¹I hate ^2adivorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and ³him who covers his garment with ^4bwrong,” says the Lord of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

¹⁷You have ^awearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “^bEveryone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He ^cdelights in them,” or, “^dWhere is the God of ^ejustice?”

Chapter 3

The Purifier

¹“^aBehold, I am going to send ^bMy ¹messenger, and he will ^2cclear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; ³and the ^dmessenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.

²“But who can ^aendure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a ^brefiner’s fire and like ¹fullers’ soap.

³“He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will ^apurify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may ^bpresent to the Lord ¹offerings in righteousness.

⁴“Then the ¹offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be ^apleasing to the Lord as in the ^bdays of old and as in former years.

⁵“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the ^asorcerers and against the ^badulterers and against those who ^cswear falsely, and against those who oppress the ^dwage earner in his wages, the ^ewidow and the ¹orphan, and those who turn aside the ^2falien and do not ³fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts.

⁶“For ¹I, the Lord, ^ado not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, ²are not consumed.

⁷“From the ^adays of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. ^bReturn to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

You Have Robbed God

⁸“Will a man ¹rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In ^atithes and ²offerings.

⁹“You are ^acursed with a curse, for you are ¹robbing Me, the whole nation of you!

¹⁰“^aBring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be ¹food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not ^bopen for you the windows of heaven and ^cpour out for you a blessing until ^2dit overflows.

¹¹“Then I will rebuke the ^adevourer for you, so that it will not ¹destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts.

¹²“^aAll the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a ^bdelightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.

¹³“Your words have been ¹arrogant against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’

¹⁴“You have said, ‘It is ^avain to serve God; and what ^bprofit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts?

¹⁵‘So now we ^acall the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and ^bescape.’ ”

The Book of Remembrance

¹⁶Then those who ¹feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord ^agave attention and heard it, and a ^bbook of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name.

¹⁷“They will be ^aMine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the ^bday that I ¹prepare My ^2cown possession, and I will ³spare them as a man ^dspares his own son who serves him.”

¹⁸So you will again ^adistinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.