1 "And so then, O priests, this command [is] for you:
2 If you will not listen, and if you will not {take it to heart} to give glory to my name," says Yahweh of hosts, "then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings; moreover I have [already] cursed them because {you are not taking it to heart}.
3 Look! I [am] going to rebuke {your offspring}, and I will scatter offal on your faces, [the] offal of your religious feasts, and you will be carried to it.
4 "Then you will know that I have sent to you this command, that my covenant with Levi {continues}," says Yahweh of hosts.
5 "My covenant with him was [one of] life and peace, and I gave them to him. [This required] reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe {before} my name.
6 [The] instruction of truth was in his mouth, and wickedness was not found on his lips. In peace and in uprightness he walked with me, and he brought back many from sin.
7 For the lips of [the] priest should guard knowledge, and they should seek instruction from his mouth, for he [is] the messenger of Yahweh of hosts.
8 But you, you have turned from the way; you have caused many to stumble by [your] instruction; you have ruined the covenant of Levi," says Yahweh of hosts.
9 "And in turn I have made you despised and humbled before all the people, inasmuch as you [are] not keeping my way, but are {favoring your own instruction}."
10 {Do we not all have} one father? Has not one God created us? Why [then] are we unfaithful {to one another}, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?
11 Judah has been faithless, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah has profaned the sanctuary of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May Yahweh cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, [the] one who is awake and [who] answers, and [the one who] brings an offering to Yahweh of hosts!
13 And this you do {as well}: [you] cover the altar of Yahweh [with] tears, [with] weeping and [with] groaning, because he {no longer regards the offering} or accepts [it] [with] favor from your hand.
14 But you ask, "{For what reason}?" Because Yahweh stands as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have been unfaithful, even though she [is] your marriage partner and {your wife by covenant}.
15 {Did not one God make them?} But a remnant of [the] spirit is his. And what does the one [God] desire? An offspring of God. {You must be attentive to} your spirit, and you must not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
16 "For hate divorce," says Yahweh, the God of Israel, "and he [who] covers his clothing [with] violence," says Yahweh of hosts. "{You must be attentive to} your spirit and you must not be unfaithful."