Priests to Be Disciplined
1 “And now this commandment is for you, O priests.
2 If you do (A)not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “then I will send the (B)curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have (C)cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.
3 Behold, I am going to (D)rebuke your (a)offspring, and I will (E)spread (b)refuse on your faces, the (c)refuse of your (F)feasts; and you will be taken away (d)with it.
4 Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, (e)that My (G)covenant may (f)continue with Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.
5 “My covenant with him was one of life and (H)peace, and I gave them to him as an object of (g)reverence; so he (h)(I)revered Me and stood in awe of My name.
6 (i)(J)True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked (K)with Me in peace and uprightness, and he (L)turned many back from iniquity.
7 For the lips of a priest should preserve (M)knowledge, and (j)men should (N)seek (k)instruction from his mouth; for he is the (O)messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to (P)stumble (l)by the instruction; you have (m)(Q)corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.
9 “So (R)I also have made you despised and (S)abased (n)before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing (T)partiality in the (o)instruction.
Sin in the Family
10 “Do we not all have (U)one father? (V)Has not one God created us? Why do we deal (W)treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the (X)covenant of our fathers?
11 Judah has dealt (Y)treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has (Z)profaned the sanctuary of the Lord (p)which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 As for the man who does this, may the (AA)Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers, or who (AB)presents (q)an offering to the Lord of hosts.
13 “This is (r)another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He (AC)no longer regards the (s)offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
14 Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the (AD)wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt (AE)treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
15 (t)But not one has (AF)done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And (u)what did that one do while he was seeking a (AG)godly (v)offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal (AH)treacherously against the wife of your youth.
16 For (w)I hate (x)(AI)divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and (y)him who covers his garment with (z)(AJ)wrong,” says the Lord of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”
Footnotes:
a.
Malachi 2:3: ['Lit ', seed]
b.
Malachi 2:3: ['Or ', vomit]
c.
Malachi 2:3: ['Or ', vomit]
d.
Malachi 2:3: ['Lit ', to]
e.
Malachi 2:4: ['Or ', to be My covenant with]
f.
Malachi 2:4: ['Lit ', be]
g.
Malachi 2:5: ['Or ', fear]
h.
Malachi 2:5: ['Or ', feared]
i.
Malachi 2:6: ['Or ', Law of truth]
j.
Malachi 2:7: ['Lit ', they]
k.
Malachi 2:7: ['Or ', law]
l.
Malachi 2:8: ['Or ', in the law]
m.
Malachi 2:8: ['Or ', violated]
n.
Malachi 2:9: ['Lit ', to]
o.
Malachi 2:9: ['Or ', law]
p.
Malachi 2:11: ['Or ', in that He has loved and married]
q.
Malachi 2:12: ['Or ', a grain offering]
r.
Malachi 2:13: ['Lit ', second]
s.
Malachi 2:13: ['Or ', grain offering]
t.
Malachi 2:15: ['Or ', Did He not make one, although He had the remnant]
u.
Malachi 2:15: ['Or ', why one? He sought a godly offspring]
v.
Malachi 2:15: ['Lit ', seed]
w.
Malachi 2:16: ['Lit ', He hates]
x.
Malachi 2:16: ['Lit ', sending away]
y.
Malachi 2:16: ['Lit ', he covers]
z.
Malachi 2:16: ['Or ', violence]
Cross references:
E.
Malachi 2:3:
Nahum 3:6
R.
Malachi 2:9:
Nahum 3:6
AD.
Malachi 2:14:
Isaiah 54:6
AM.
Malachi 2:17:
Job 9:24
AN.
Malachi 2:17:
2 Peter 3:4