Malachi 2

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?”