2 But now, this command is for you, priests:
2 If you don’t listen,
or don’t intend to glorify my name,
says the Lord of heavenly forces,
then I will send a curse among you.
I will curse your blessings,
and I mean really curse them,
because none of you intend to do it.
3 I am about to denounce your offspring;
I will scatter feces on your faces,
the feces of your festivals.
Then I will lift you up to me,[a]
4 and you will know that I have sent this command to you
so that my covenant with Levi can continue to exist,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
5 My covenant with him involved life and peace, which I gave him,
and also fear so that he honored me.
He was in awe of my name.
6 True Instruction was in his mouth;
injustice wasn’t found on his lips.
He walked with me in peace and did the right thing;
he made many turn from iniquity.
7 The lips of the priest should guard knowledge;
everyone[b] should seek Instruction from his mouth,
for he is the messenger from the Lord of heavenly forces.
8 But you have turned from the path.
You have caused many to stumble by your instruction.
You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
9 Moreover, I have made you despised and humiliated in the view of all the people,
since none of you keep my ways
or show respect for Instruction.
Judah’s dishonesty
10 Isn’t there one father for all of us,
one God who created us?
Why does everyone cheat each other
to make the covenant
of our ancestors impure?
11 Judah cheated—
a detestable thing was done in Israel and Jerusalem.
Judah made the Lord’s holy place impure, which God loved,
and married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the Lord eliminate anyone who does so from the tents of Jacob,
anyone awaking, testifying,[c]
and making an offering to the Lord of heavenly forces.
13 You should do this as well:
cover the altar of the Lord with tears, weeping, and groaning
because there is still no divine favor for your offering or favorable regard
for anything from your hand.
14 But you say, “Why?”
Because the Lord testifies about you
and the wife of your youth against whom you cheated.
She is your partner,
the wife of your covenant.
15 Didn’t he make her[d] the one[e]
and the remnant of his spirit?[f]
What is the one?
The one seeking godly offspring.
You should guard your own spirit.
Don’t cheat on the wife of your youth
16 because he hates divorce,
says the Lord God of Israel,
and he also hates the one covering his garment with violence,[g]
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
Guard your own life, and don’t cheat.
Purifying judgment
17 You have made the Lord tired with your words.
You say, “How have we made him tired?”
When you say:
“Anyone doing evil is good in the Lord’s eyes,”
or “He delights in those doing evil,”[h]
or “Where is the God of justice?”
Footnotes
- Malachi 2:3 Heb uncertain; MT He will carry you to it.
- Malachi 2:7 Or they
- Malachi 2:12 Heb uncertain
- Malachi 2:15 Heb lacks her.
- Malachi 2:15 Heb uncertain; her refers to the wife in Mal 2:14.
- Malachi 2:15 Heb uncertain
- Malachi 2:16 Heb uncertain
- Malachi 2:17 Or them