Warning to the Priests
1“Therefore, this decreea is for you priests: 2If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heartb to honor My name,” says •Yahweh of •Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings.c 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,d and I will spread animal wastee over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices,f and you will be taken away with it. 4Then you will know that I sent you this decree so My covenant with Levig may continue,” says the LORD of Hosts. 5“My covenant with him was one of life and peace,h and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.i 6TRUE instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Mej in peace and fairness and turned many from sin.k 7For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.l
8“You, on the other hand, have turned from the way.m You have caused many to stumblen by your instruction. You have violatedo the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of Hosts. 9“So I in turn have made you despisedp and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in your instruction.”q
Judah’s Marital Unfaithfulness
10Don’t all of us have one Father?r Didn’t one God create us?s Why then do we act treacherously against one another,t profaningu the covenant of our fathers?v 11Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestablew thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profanedx the LORD’s sanctuary,y, z which He loves,aa and has married the daughter of a foreign god.ab, ac 12To the man who does this, may the LORD cut offad any descendantsae, af, ag from the tents of Jacob, even if they present an offering to the LORD of Hosts.
13And this is another thing you do: you cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning,ah because He no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.ai
14Yet you ask, “For what reason? ” Because the LORD has been a witnessaj between you and the wife of your youth.ak You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partneral and your wife by covenant.am 15Didn’t the one God make us with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek?an A godly •offspring. So watch yourselves carefully,ao, ap and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth.
16“If he hatesaq and divorces his wife,ar” says the LORD God of Israel, “heas covers his garment with injustice,”at says the LORD of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully,au and do not act treacherously.
Judgment at the Lord’s Coming
17You have wearied the LORDav with your words.
Yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him? ”
When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the LORD’s sight, and He is pleased with them,”aw or “Where is the God of justice? ”ax
Footnotes:
a. 2:1 Nah 1:14
b. 2:2 Is 42:25; 57:1; Jr 12:11
c. 2:2 Dt 28:20; Pr 3:33; 28:27; Mal 3:9
d. 2:3 Hs 4:6-8
e. 2:3 Dung or entrails
f. 2:3 Ex 29:14; Lv 16:27
g. 2:4 Nm 25:11-13; Dt 10:8; 33:8-11; Neh 13:29; Jr 33:17-22
h. 2:5 1Sm 25:6; Pr 3:2
i. 2:5 Mal 1:6
j. 2:6 Gn 5:22,24; 6:9; Mc 6:8
k. 2:6 Is 53:6; Jr 23:22; Ezk 3:19-20
l. 2:7 2Ch 36:15-16; Hg 1:13
m. 2:8 Ex 32:8; Dt 31:29; Mal 3:7
n. 2:8 Pr 4:16; Is 8:14-15; Hs 14:1
o. 2:8 Lit corrupted
p. 2:9 Mal 1:6-7
q. 2:9 Lv 19:15; Dt 10:17; Ps 82:2; Mt 22:16; 1Tm 5:21; Jms 2:1,9
r. 2:10 Ex 4:22-23; Is 63:16; Hs 11:1; Mal 1:6; Jn 8:41
s. 2:10 Dt 32:6; Is 43:1-7; 64:8
t. 2:10 Ex 21:8; Jdg 9:23; Jb 6:15; Is 21:2; Jr 3:20
u. 2:10 Nm 30:2; Ps 55:20; 89:34; Mal 1:12
v. 2:10 1Kg 8:21
w. 2:11 Lv 18:22-30; Ezr 9:1-14; Neh 13:4-9
x. 2:11 Jr 16:18; Ezk 44:7
y. 2:11 Or profaned what is holy to the Lord
z. 2:11 Ex 36:1-6; Zph 3:4
aa. 2:11 Ps 78:68-69
ab. 2:11 = a woman who worshiped a foreign god
ac. 2:11 Dt 7:3-4; Ezr 9:1-2,10-14; Neh 13:23-30
ad. 2:12 Ex 12:19; 31:14
ae. 2:12 One Hb ms, LXX, DSS read off one witnessing or answering
af. 2:12 Lit off one waking or answering ; Hb obscure
ag. 2:12 Ru 4:10; 1Sm 24:21
ah. 2:13 Ps 6:6-10
ai. 2:13 1Kg 8:28-30; Is 56:7
aj. 2:14 Gn 31:50-53; Jdg 11:10; 1Sm 12:5
ak. 2:14 Pr 2:16-17; 5:18; Is 54:6
al. 2:14 Ec 4:10
am. 2:14 Ezk 16:8,59-62; Hs 2:16-20
an. 2:15 Or Did the One not make them? So their flesh and spirit belong to Him, or No one who does this even has a remnant of the Spirit in him ; Hb obscure
ao. 2:15 Lit So guard yourselves in your spirit
ap. 2:15 Ex 23:13; Jos 23:11
aq. 2:16 Gn 29:31; Dt 21:15-17; 22:13,16; Jdg 15:2; Pr 30:23
ar. 2:16 Dt 24:1-4
as. 2:16 Or The Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce and the one who
at. 2:16 Gn 6:11,13; Ps 73:6; Jr 22:3; Hab 1:2-3
au. 2:16 Lit Therefore, guard yourselves in your spirit
av. 2:17 Is 43:22-24
aw. 2:17 Dt 25:16; Mal 3:15
ax. 2:17 Neh 9:33; Is 40:27
