2“And now, you priests, this warning is for you.^v ²If you do not listen,^w and if you do not resolve to honor^x my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse^y on you, and I will curse your blessings.^z Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.

³“Because of you I will rebuke your descendants^a; I will smear on your faces the dung^a from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.^b ⁴And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi^c may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. ⁵“My covenant was with him, a covenant^d of life and peace,^e and I gave them to him; this called for reverence^f and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. ⁶True instruction^g was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked^h with me in peaceⁱ and uprightness,^j and turned many from sin.^k

⁷“For the lips of a priest^l ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger^m of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.ⁿ ⁸But you have turned from the way^o and by your teaching have caused many to stumble;^p you have violated the covenant^q with Levi,”^r says the Lord Almighty. ⁹“So I have caused you to be despised^s and humiliated^t before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality^u in matters of the law.”^v

Breaking Covenant Through Divorce

¹⁰Do we not all have one Father^b?^w Did not one God create us?^x Why do we profane the covenant^y of our ancestors by being unfaithful^z to one another?

¹¹Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable^a thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves^b by marrying^c women who worship a foreign god.^d ¹²As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove^e him from the tents of Jacob^c^f—even though he brings an offering^g to the Lord Almighty.

¹³Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears.^h You weep and wailⁱ because he no longer looks with favor^j on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.^k ¹⁴You ask,^l “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness^m between you and the wife of your youth.ⁿ You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.^o

¹⁵Has not the one God made you?^p You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.^d^q So be on your guard,^r and do not be unfaithful^s to the wife of your youth.

¹⁶“The man who hates and divorces his wife,^t” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”^e^u says the Lord Almighty.

So be on your guard,^v and do not be unfaithful.

Breaking Covenant Through Injustice

¹⁷You have wearied^w the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.^x

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased^y with them” or “Where is the God of justice?^z”

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Footnotes

aOr will blight your grain
bOr father
cOr 12May the Lord remove from the tents of Jacob anyone who gives testimony in behalf of the man who does this
dThe meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
eOr “I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “because the man who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,”

Cross references

vver 7
w Jer 13:17
x Mt 15:7–9; Jn 5:23; 1 Ti 6:16; Rev 5:12–13
ySee Dt 11:26; See 28:20
z Nu 6:23–27
aSee Ex 29:14; See Lev 4:11; See Job 9:31
b 1 Ki 14:10
cSee Nu 3:12
d Dt 33:9; Ps 25:10; 103:18; See Mt 26:28; See Lk 22:20; Heb 7:22
eSee Nu 25:12
fSee Dt 14:23; See 28:58; Ps 119:161; Heb 12:28
gSee Dt 33:10
hSee Ge 5:22
i Lk 2:14; See Jn 14:27; Gal 5:22
jSee Ps 25:21
kSee Ro 11:14; Jas 5:19–20
lSee Jer 18:18
mSee Nu 27:21; See 2 Ch 36:15; Mt 11:10; Mk 1:2
nSee Lev 10:11; See 2 Ch 17:7
oSee Ex 32:8; Jer 2:8
pSee Jer 18:15
q Jer 33:21; See Eze 22:26
rSee Hos 4:6
sSee 1 Sa 2:30; See Ps 22:6; See Jer 51:37
tSee Ps 35:4; Jer 3:25; Ac 8:32–33
uSee Ex 18:16; See Lev 19:15; Ac 10:34; Ro 2:11
vSee 1 Sa 2:17
wSee Ex 4:22; Mt 5:16; 6:4, 18; Lk 11:2; 1 Co 8:6
xSee Job 4:17; Isa 43:1
y Ex 19:5; See 2 Ki 17:15; Jer 31:32
zSee Zep 3:3–4
aSee Isa 1:13; See 48:8
bSee Dt 4:37
cSee Ne 13:23
dSee Ex 34:16; Jer 3:7–9
eSee 1 Sa 2:30–33; See Eze 24:21
fSee Nu 24:5; 2 Sa 20:1
gSee Mal 1:10
hSee Jer 11:11
i Ps 39:12
j Ps 66:18; Jer 14:12
k Isa 58:2
lSee Mal 1:2
mSee Ge 21:30; See Jos 24:22
nSee Pr 5:18
oSee Eze 16:8; Heb 13:4
pSee Ge 2:24; Mt 19:4–6
qSee Dt 14:2; 1 Co 7:14
rSee Dt 4:15
sSee Isa 54:6; 1 Co 7:10; Heb 13:4
tSee Dt 24:1; Mt 5:31–32; 19:4–9; Mk 10:4–5
uSee Ge 6:11; 34:25; See Pr 4:17; See Isa 58:4
v Ps 51:10
wSee Isa 1:14
xSee Mal 1:2
y Ps 5:4
zSee Ge 18:25; See Job 8:3; See Eze 18:25