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Warning to the Priests

¹ “Therefore, this decree^(C1) is for you priests: ² If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heart^(C1) to honor my name,” says the Lord of Armies, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings.^(C2) 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,^(C1) and I will spread animal waste^(F1) over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices,^(C2) and you will be taken away with it. ⁴ Then you will know that I sent you this decree, so that my covenant with Levi^(C1) may continue,” says the Lord of Armies. ⁵ “My covenant with him was one of life and peace,^(C1) and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.^{(C2) 6} True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me^(C1) in peace and integrity and turned many from iniquity.^{(C2) 7} For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Armies.^(C1)

⁸ “You, on the other hand, have turned from the way.^(C1) You have caused many to stumble^(C2) by your instruction. You have violated^(F1) the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Armies. ⁹ “So I in turn have made you despised^(C1) and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping my ways but are showing partiality in your instruction.”^(C2)

Judah’s Marital Unfaithfulness

¹⁰ Don’t all of us have one Father?^(C1) Didn’t one God create us?^(C2) Why then do we act treacherously against one another,^(C3) profaning^(C4) the covenant of our fathers?^{(C5) 11} Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable^(C1) act has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned^(C2) the Lord’s sanctuary,^(F1)(C3) which he loves,^(C4) and has married the daughter of a foreign god.^{(F2)(C5) 12} May the Lord cut off^(C1) from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, whoever he may be,^(F1)(C2) even if he presents an offering to the Lord of Armies.

¹³ This is another thing you do. You are covering the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning,^(C1) because he no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.^(C2)

¹⁴ And you ask, “Why?” Because even though the Lord has been a witness^(C1) between you and the wife of your youth,^(C2) you have acted treacherously against her. She was your marriage partner^(C3) and your wife by covenant.^{(C4) 15} Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking?^(F1) Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully,^(F2)(C1) so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his^(F3) youth.

¹⁶ “If he hates^(C1) and divorces his wife,”^(C2) says the Lord God of Israel, “he^(F1) covers his garment with injustice,”^(C3) says the Lord of Armies. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully,^(F2) and do not act treacherously.

Judgment at the Lord’s Coming

¹⁷ You have wearied the Lord^(C1) with your words.