The Lord Rebukes the Priests
1 "And now,
1O priests,
2this command is for you.
2
3If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send
4the curse upon you and I will curse
5your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.
3
Behold,
6I will rebuke your offspring, and
7spread dung on your faces, the
8dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.
4
So shall you know that I have sent
9this command to you, that
10my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts.
5
My covenant with him was one of life and
11peace, and I gave them to him.
12It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.
6
13True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he
14turned many from iniquity.
7
For
15the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
8
But you have turned aside from the way.
16You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted
17the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts,
9
and so
18I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but
19show partiality in your instruction."
Judah Profaned the Covenant
10 Have we not all
20one Father? Has not
21one God created us? Why then are we
22faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
11
Judah has been
23faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For
24Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12
May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who
25brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!
13
And this second thing you do.
26You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
14
27But you say, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD
28 was witness between you and the wife of your youth,
29to whom
30you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
15
31Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking?
32 Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be
33faithless to the wife of your youth.
16
"For
34the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and
35do not be faithless."
The Messenger of the Lord
17 36You have wearied the LORD with your words.
37But you say, "How have we wearied him?"
38By saying, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them." Or by asking,
39"Where is the God of justice?"