Malachi 2
Names of God Bible
The Priests Do Not Teach the Lord’s Word Correctly
2 “And now, you priests, this warning is for you. 2 If you won’t listen and if you won’t consider giving honor to my name,” says Yahweh Tsebaoth, “then I’ll send a curse on you, and I’ll curse the blessings you give. Yes, I’ve already cursed them because you don’t carefully consider this.
3 “I’m going to punish your descendants. I’m going to spread excrement on your faces, the excrement from your festival sacrifices. You will be discarded with it. 4 Then you will know that I sent you this warning so that my promise[a] to Levi will continue,” says Yahweh Tsebaoth. 5 “I promised Levi life and peace. I gave them to him so that he would respect me. He respected me and stood in awe of my name. 6 The teaching that came from his mouth was true. Nothing unjust was found on his lips. He lived with me in peace and honesty and turned many people away from sin.
7 “A priest’s lips should preserve knowledge. Then, because he is the messenger for Yahweh Tsebaoth, people will seek instruction from his mouth.
8 “But you have turned from the correct path and caused many to stumble over my teachings. You have corrupted the promise made to Levi,” says Yahweh Tsebaoth. 9 “So I have made you disgusting, and I have humiliated you in front of all the people, because you have not followed my ways. You have been unfair when applying my teachings.”
The People Break Their Marriage Vows
10 Don’t all of us have the same father? Hasn’t the same God created us? Why are we unfaithful to each other? And why do we dishonor the promise given to our ancestors? 11 Judah has been unfaithful! A disgusting thing has been done in Israel and Jerusalem. Judah has dishonored the holy place that Yahweh loves and has married a woman who worships a foreign god. 12 May Yahweh exclude anyone who does this, whoever he may be. May he exclude them from Jacob’s tents and from bringing offerings to Yahweh Tsebaoth.
13 Here is another thing you do: You cover Yahweh’s altar with tears. You moan and groan because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them from you.
14 But you ask, “Why aren’t our offerings accepted?” It is because Yahweh is a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been unfaithful. Yet, she is your companion, the wife of your marriage vows. 15 Didn’t God make you one? Your flesh and spirit belong to him. And what does the same God look for but godly descendants? So be careful not to be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.[b]
16 “I hate divorce,” says Yahweh Elohim of Israel. “I hate the person who covers himself with violence,” says Yahweh Tsebaoth. “Be careful not to be unfaithful.”
17 You have tried the patience of Yahweh with your words.
But you ask, “How have we tried his patience?”
When you say, “Everyone who does evil is considered good by Yahweh. He is pleased with them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”
Footnotes
- Malachi 2:4 Or “covenant.”
- Malachi 2:15 Hebrew meaning of this verse uncertain.
Malachi 2
King James Version
2 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
12 The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts.
13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16 For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.