Malachi 2

And now, this commandment {is} for you, O priests.

If you will not listen, and if you will not set {it} upon the heart to give glory to my name,” says God of Armies, “then I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. And indeed, I have cursed it, for you are not setting {this} upon the heart. \*

Behold me, rebuking the seed {that is} to you, and I will spread dung on your faces, the dung of your festivals, and one will take you away with it.

And you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, for my covenant to be with Levi,” says God of Armies. \*

“My covenant was with him, life and peace, and I gave them to him {for} fear, and he feared me, and before my name he was dismayed.

The instruction of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found on his lips. In peace and in uprightness he walked with me, and he turned many from iniquity.

For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and they should seek instruction from his mouth, for he {is} the messenger of God of Armies. \*

But you yourselves have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by {your} instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says God of Armies.

“So I myself have also made you despised and humiliated before all the people, because you {are} not keeping my ways and {are} lifting faces regarding the instruction.” \*

{Is} not one father to all of us? Did not one God create us? Why do we deal treacherously, a man against his brother, to profane the covenant of our fathers?

Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy place of God, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

May God cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, the one being awake and the one answering, even the one bringing an offering to God of Armies. \*

And this second {thing} you do: covering the altar of God {with} tears, {with} weeping and groaning, because there is no longer turning to the offering or taking {it} with favor {from} your hand. \*

But you say, “For what?” Because God is a witness between you and between the wife of your youth, {with} whom you yourself have dealt treacherously, though she {was} your companion and the wife of your covenant.

And did he not make one, and a remnant of spirit {was} to him? And why one? {He was} seeking seed of God. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not deal treacherously with the wife of your youth.

“For I hate divorce,” says God, the God of Israel, “and one {who} covers over his garment with violence,” says God of Armies. “So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not deal treacherously.” \*

You have wearied God with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied {him}?” In your saying, “All of the doers of evil {are} good in the eyes of God, and he delights in them,” or, “Where {is} the God of justice?” \*