2“Now I am giving a warning to you priests. ²Listen to it. Honor me with all your heart,” says the Lord who rules over all. “If you do not, I will send a curse on you. I will turn your blessings into curses. In fact, I have already done that because you have not honored me with all your heart.

³“Because of what you have done, I will punish your children. I will smear the guts from your sacrifices on your faces. And you will be carried off to the dump along with them. ⁴You will know that I have given you a warning. I have warned you so that my covenant with Levi will continue,” says the Lord who rules over all.

⁵“My covenant promised Levi life and peace. So I gave them to him. I required him to respect me. And he had great respect for my name. ⁶True teaching came from his mouth. Nothing but the truth came from his lips. He walked with me in peace. He did what was right. He turned many people away from their sins.

⁷“The lips of a priest should guard knowledge. People should look for true teaching from his mouth. After all, he is my messenger. ⁸But you have turned away from the right path. Your teaching has caused many people to trip and fall. You have broken my covenant with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all. ⁹“So I have caused all of the people to hate you. They have lost respect for you. You have not done what I told you to do. Instead, you have favored one person over another in matters of the law.”

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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.