The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 "Now, cohanim, this command is for you.
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And now, O you priests, this order is for you.
2 If you won't listen, if you won't pay attention to honoring my name," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "then I will send the curse on you; I will turn your blessings into curses. Yes, I will curse them, because you pay no attention.
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If you will not give ear and take it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the Lord of armies, then I will send the curse on you and will put a curse on your blessing: truly, even now I have put a curse on it, because you do not take it to heart.
3 I will reject your seed; I will throw dung in your faces, the dung from your festival offerings; and you will be carted off with it.
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See, I will have your arm cut off, and will put waste on your faces, even the waste from your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
4 Then you will know that I sent you this command to affirm my covenant with Levi," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.
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And you will be certain that I have sent this order to you, so that it might be my agreement with Levi, says the Lord of armies.
5 "My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave him these things. It was also one of fear, and he feared me; he was in awe of my name.
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My agreement with him was on my side life and peace, and I gave them to him; on his side fear, and he had fear of me and gave honour to my name.
6 The true Torah was in his mouth, and no dishonesty was found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from sin.
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True teaching was in his mouth, and no evil was seen on his lips: he was walking with me in peace and righteousness, turning numbers of people away from evil-doing.
7 A cohen's lips should safeguard knowledge, and people should seek Torah from his mouth, because he is the messenger of ADONAI-Tzva'ot.
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For it is right for the priest's lips to keep knowledge, and for men to be waiting for the law from his mouth: for he is the servant sent from the Lord of armies.
8 But you turned away from the path, you caused many to fail in the Torah, you corrupted the covenant of Levi," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.
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But you are turned out of the way; you have made the law hard for numbers of people; you have made the agreement of Levi of no value, says the Lord of armies.
9 "Therefore I have in turn made you contemptible and vile before all the people, because you did not keep my ways but were partial in applying the Torah."
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And so I have taken away your honour and made you low before all the people, even as you have not kept my ways, and have given no thought to me in using the law.
10 Don't we all have the same father? Didn't one God create us all? Then why do we break faith with each other, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?
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Have we not all one father? has not one God made us? why are we, every one of us, acting falsely to his brother, putting shame on the agreement of our fathers?
11 Y'hudah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Isra'el and Yerushalayim. For Y'hudah has profaned the sanctuary of ADONAI, which he loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.
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Judah has been acting falsely, and a disgusting thing has been done in Jerusalem; for Judah has made unclean the holy place of the Lord which is dear to him, and has taken as his wife the daughter of a strange god.
12 If a man does this and presents an offering to ADONAI-Tzva'ot, may ADONAI cut him off from the tents of Ya'akov, whether initiator or follower.
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The Lord will have the man who does this cut off root and branch out of the tents of Jacob, and him who makes an offering to the Lord of armies.
13 Here is something else you do: you cover ADONAI's altar with tears, with weeping and with sighing, because he no longer looks at the offering or receives your gift with favor.
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And this again you do: covering the altar of the Lord with weeping and with grief, so that he gives no more thought to the offering, and does not take it with pleasure from your hand.
14 Nevertheless, you ask, "Why is this?" Because ADONAI is witness between you and the wife of your youth that you have broken faith with her, though she is your companion, your wife by covenant.
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But you say, For what reason? Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your early years, to whom you have been untrue, though she is your friend and the wife to whom you have given your word.
15 And hasn't he made [them] one [flesh] in order to have spiritual blood-relatives? For what the one [flesh] seeks is a seed from God. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, and don't break faith with the wife of your youth.
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... So give thought to your spirit, and let no one be false to the wife of his early years.
16 "For I hate divorce," says ADONAI the God of Isra'el, "and him who covers his clothing with violence," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and don't break faith.
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For I am against the putting away of a wife, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and against him who is clothed with violent acts, says the Lord of armies: so give thought to your spirit and do not be false in your acts.
17 You have wearied ADONAI with your words. Yet you ask, "How have we wearied him?" By saying that anyone who does wrong is good from ADONAI's perspective, and that he is delighted with them; or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"
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You have made the Lord tired with your words. And still you say, How have we made him tired? By your saying, Everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of the Lord, and he has delight in them; or, Where is God the judge?
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.