THE BOOK OF MALACHI

 

Malachi Chapter 2

1 ¶ And now, you priests, this warning is for you.

2 If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, and give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts, I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take this to heart.

3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and smear dung on your faces, even the dung from your solemn feasts; and you will be swept away with it.

4 And you will know that I have sent this warning to you, so my covenant with Levi might continue, says the LORD of hosts.

5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace; and I gave these to him because he feared me, and trembled before my name.

6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and sin was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace with a clean conscience, and turned many away from sin.

7 For a priest’s lips should dispense knowledge, and they should seek the law from his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

8 But you have turned from the path; you have caused many to stumble over the law; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts.

9 Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, because you disregard my ways, and have not been impartial in handling the law.

10 ¶ Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? why then does every man deal treacherously against his brother, thus profaning the covenant of our fathers?

11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holy sanctuary of the LORD which he loved, and has married the daughter of a strange god.

12 The LORD will cut off the man who does this, participant and witness alike, from the tabernacles of Jacob, and from offering a sacrifice to the LORD of hosts.

13 And here is another thing, you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with sobbing, because he does not accept your offering any longer, or receive it with good will from your hand.

14 And still you ask, Why? Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously: yet is she your companion, and your wife by solemn covenant.

15 Did not the Lord God make you one? Your life and breath belong to him. And why did he make you one? because he wants godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce: and one who covers his wife with violence and injustice, says the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, so that you do not deal treacherously.

17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, How have we wearied him? You weary him when you say that GOD approves of those who do evil, and he is pleased with them; if that is so, Where is the God of judgment?