Additional Warning to the Priests

2 “And now, you priests, this warning is for you.^{(A) 2} If you do not listen,^(B) and if you do not resolve to honor^(C) my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse^(D) on you, and I will curse your blessings.^(E) Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.

³ “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants^[a]; I will smear on your faces the dung^(F) from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.^{(G) 4} And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi^(H) may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. ⁵ “My covenant was with him, a covenant^(I) of life and peace,^(J) and I gave them to him; this called for reverence^(K) and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. ⁶ True instruction^(L) was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked^(M) with me in peace^(N) and uprightness,^(O) and turned many from sin.^(P)

⁷ “For the lips of a priest^(Q) ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger^(R) of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.^{(S) 8} But you have turned from the way^(T) and by your teaching have caused many to stumble;^(U) you have violated the covenant^(V) with Levi,”^(W) says the Lord Almighty.

¹⁹ The Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel,^[a] for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful^(A) to the Lord.

²² In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful^(A) to the Lord. ²³ He offered sacrifices to the gods^(B) of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”^(C) But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.^(D)

²⁴ Ahaz gathered together the furnishings^(E) from the temple of God^(F) and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors^(G) of the Lord’s temple and set up altars^(H) at every street corner in Jerusalem. ²⁵ In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.