Malachi 2 - New International Version (NIV)

Additional Warning to the Priests

2 “And now, you priests, this warning is for you.(A) 2 If you do not listen,(B) and if you do not resolve to honor(C) my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse(D) on you, and I will curse your blessings.(E) 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(F) from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.(G) 4 And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi(H) may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. 5 “My covenant was with him, a covenant(I) of life and peace,(J) and I gave them to him; this called for reverence(K) and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction(L) was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked(M) with me in peace(N) and uprightness,(O) and turned many from sin.(P)

7 “For the lips of a priest(Q) ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger(R) of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.(S) 8 But you have turned from the way(T) and by your teaching have caused many to stumble;(U) you have violated the covenant(V) with Levi,”(W) says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despised(X) and humiliated(Y) before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality(Z) in matters of the law.”(AA)

Breaking Covenant Through Divorce

10 Do we not all have one Father[b]?(AB) Did not one God create us?(AC) Why do we profane the covenant(AD) of our ancestors by being unfaithful(AE) to one another?

11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable(AF) thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves(AG) by marrying(AH) women who worship a foreign god.(AI) 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove(AJ) him from the tents of Jacob[c](AK)—even though he brings an offering(AL) to the Lord Almighty.

13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears.(AM) You weep and wail(AN) because he no longer looks with favor(AO) on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.(AP) 14 You ask,(AQ) “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness(AR) between you and the wife of your youth.(AS) You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.(AT)

15 Has not the one God made you?(AU) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[d](AV) So be on your guard,(AW) and do not be unfaithful(AX) to the wife of your youth.

16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,(AY)” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”[e](AZ) says the Lord Almighty.

So be on your guard,(BA) and do not be unfaithful.

Breaking Covenant Through Injustice

17 You have wearied(BB) the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.(BC)

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased(BD) with them” or “Where is the God of justice?(BE)”

Footnotes

  1. Malachi 2:3 Or will blight your grain
  2. Malachi 2:10 Or father
  3. Malachi 2:12 Or 12 May the Lord remove from the tents of Jacob anyone who gives testimony in behalf of the man who does this
  4. Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
  5. Malachi 2:16 Or “I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “because the man who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,”

Cross references

  1. Malachi 2:1 : ver 7
  2. Malachi 2:2 : Jer 13:17
  3. Malachi 2:2 : Mt 15:7-9; Jn 5:23; 1Ti 6:16; Rev 5:12-13
  4. Malachi 2:2 : S Dt 11:26; S 28:20
  5. Malachi 2:2 : Nu 6:23-27
  6. Malachi 2:3 : S Ex 29:14; S Lev 4:11; S Job 9:31
  7. Malachi 2:3 : 1Ki 14:10
  8. Malachi 2:4 : S Nu 3:12
  9. Malachi 2:5 : Dt 33:9; Ps 25:10; 103:18; S Mt 26:28; S Lk 22:20; Heb 7:22
  10. Malachi 2:5 : S Nu 25:12
  11. Malachi 2:5 : S Dt 14:23; S 28:58; Ps 119:161; Heb 12:28
  12. Malachi 2:6 : S Dt 33:10
  13. Malachi 2:6 : S Ge 5:22
  14. Malachi 2:6 : Lk 2:14; S Jn 14:27; Gal 5:22
  15. Malachi 2:6 : S Ps 25:21
  16. Malachi 2:6 : S Ro 11:14; Jas 5:19-20
  17. Malachi 2:7 : S Jer 18:18
  18. Malachi 2:7 : S Nu 27:21; S 2Ch 36:15; Mt 11:10; Mk 1:2
  19. Malachi 2:7 : S Lev 10:11; S 2Ch 17:7
  20. Malachi 2:8 : S Ex 32:8; Jer 2:8
  21. Malachi 2:8 : S Jer 18:15
  22. Malachi 2:8 : Jer 33:21; S Eze 22:26
  23. Malachi 2:8 : S Hos 4:6
  24. Malachi 2:9 : S 1Sa 2:30; S Ps 22:6; S Jer 51:37
  25. Malachi 2:9 : S Ps 35:4; Jer 3:25; Ac 8:32-33
  26. Malachi 2:9 : S Ex 18:16; S Lev 19:15; Ac 10:34; Ro 2:11
  27. Malachi 2:9 : S 1Sa 2:17
  28. Malachi 2:10 : S Ex 4:22; Mt 5:16; 6:4, 18; Lk 11:2; 1Co 8:6
  29. Malachi 2:10 : S Job 4:17; Isa 43:1
  30. Malachi 2:10 : Ex 19:5; S 2Ki 17:15; Jer 31:32
  31. Malachi 2:10 : S Zep 3:3-4
  32. Malachi 2:11 : S Isa 1:13; S 48:8
  33. Malachi 2:11 : S Dt 4:37
  34. Malachi 2:11 : S Ne 13:23
  35. Malachi 2:11 : S Ex 34:16; Jer 3:7-9
  36. Malachi 2:12 : S 1Sa 2:30-33; S Eze 24:21
  37. Malachi 2:12 : S Nu 24:5; 2Sa 20:1
  38. Malachi 2:12 : S Mal 1:10
  39. Malachi 2:13 : S Jer 11:11
  40. Malachi 2:13 : Ps 39:12
  41. Malachi 2:13 : Ps 66:18; Jer 14:12
  42. Malachi 2:13 : Isa 58:2
  43. Malachi 2:14 : S Mal 1:2
  44. Malachi 2:14 : S Ge 21:30; S Jos 24:22
  45. Malachi 2:14 : S Pr 5:18
  46. Malachi 2:14 : S Eze 16:8; Heb 13:4
  47. Malachi 2:15 : S Ge 2:24; Mt 19:4-6
  48. Malachi 2:15 : S Dt 14:2; 1Co 7:14
  49. Malachi 2:15 : S Dt 4:15
  50. Malachi 2:15 : S Isa 54:6; 1Co 7:10; Heb 13:4
  51. Malachi 2:16 : S Dt 24:1; Mt 5:31-32; 19:4-9; Mk 10:4-5
  52. Malachi 2:16 : S Ge 6:11; 34:25; S Pr 4:17; S Isa 58:4
  53. Malachi 2:16 : Ps 51:10
  54. Malachi 2:17 : S Isa 1:14
  55. Malachi 2:17 : S Mal 1:2
  56. Malachi 2:17 : Ps 5:4
  57. Malachi 2:17 : S Ge 18:25; S Job 8:3; S Eze 18:25

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