Malachi 2:1-9

Warning to the Priests

1 "Therefore, this decree is for you priests:
2 If you don't listen, and if you don't take it to heart to honor My name," says the Lord of Hosts, "I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings.[a] In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.
3 "Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants,[b] and I will spread animal waste[c] over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it.
4 Then you will know that I sent you this decree so My covenant with Levi[d] may continue," says the Lord of Hosts.
5 "My covenant with him was one of life and peace,[e] and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.
6 True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and fairness and turned many from sin.
7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.
8 "You, on the other hand, have turned from the way.[f] You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated[g] the covenant of Levi," says the Lord of Hosts.
9 "So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in [your] instruction."[h]

Footnotes 8

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