The Lord Rebukes the Priests

2 “And now, ^(A)O priests, ^(B)this command is for you. ^2 (C)If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send ^(D)the curse upon you and I will curse ^(E)your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. ³ Behold, ^(F)I will rebuke your offspring,^[a] and ^(G)spread dung on your faces, the ^(H)dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.^{[b] 4} So shall you know that I have sent ^(I)this command to you, that ^(J)my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. ⁵ My covenant with him was one of life and ^(K)peace, and I gave them to him. ^(L)It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. ^6 (M)True instruction^[c] was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he ^(N)turned many from iniquity. ⁷ For ^(O)the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people^[d] should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. ⁸ But you have turned aside from the way. ^(P)You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted ^(Q)the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, ⁹ and so ^(R)I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but ^(S)show partiality in your instruction.”

Judah Profaned the Covenant

¹⁰ Have we not all ^(T)one Father? Has not ^(U)one God created us? Why then are we ^(V)faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? ¹¹ Judah has been ^(W)faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For ^(X)Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. ¹² May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant^[e] of the man who does this, who ^(Y)brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

¹³ And this second thing you do. ^(Z)You cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. ^14 (AA)But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord ^(AB)was witness between you and the wife of your youth, ^(AC)to whom ^(AD)you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. ^15 (AE)Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?^[f] And what was the one God^[g] seeking?^{[h] (AF)}Godly offspring. So guard yourselves^[i] in your spirit, and let none of you be ^(AG)faithless to the wife of your youth. ¹⁶ “For ^(AH)the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,^[j] says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers^[k] his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and ^(AI)do not be faithless.”

Paul Surrenders His Rights

9 ^(A)Am I not free? ^(B)Am I not an apostle? ^(C)Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? ^(D)Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? ² If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are ^(E)the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³ This is my defense to those who would examine me. ^4 (F)Do we not have the right to eat and drink? ^5 (G)Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife,^[a] as do the other apostles and ^(H)the brothers of the Lord and ^(I)Cephas? ⁶ Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? ^7 (J)Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? ^(K)Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

⁸ Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? ⁹ For it is written in the Law of Moses, ^(L)“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰ Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written ^(M)for our sake, because ^(N)the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. ^11 (O)If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? ¹² If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, ^(P)we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything ^(Q)rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. ¹³ Do you not know that ^(R)those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord commanded that ^(S)those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

¹⁵ But ^(T)I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone ^(U)deprive me of my ground for boasting. ¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For ^(V)necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with ^(W)a stewardship. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? That in my preaching ^(X)I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹ For ^(Y)though I am free from all, ^(Z)I have made myself a servant to all, that I might ^(AA)win more of them. ^20 (AB)To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To ^(AC)those outside the law I became ^(AD)as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but ^(AE)under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ^22 (AF)To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. ^(AG)I have become all things to all people, that ^(AH)by all means I might save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, ^(AI)that I may share with them in its blessings.

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives ^(AJ)the prize? So ^(AK)run that you may obtain it. ²⁵ Every ^(AL)athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we ^(AM)an imperishable. ²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly; I ^(AN)do not box as one ^(AO)beating the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and ^(AP)keep it under control,^[b] lest after preaching to others ^(AQ)I myself should be ^(AR)disqualified.

The Messenger of the Lord

^17 (A)You have wearied the Lord with your words. ^(B)But you say, “How have we wearied him?” ^(C)By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, ^(D)“Where is the God of justice?”

3 ^(E)“Behold, I send ^(F)my messenger, and ^(G)he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord ^(H)whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and ^(I)the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ² But ^(J)who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For ^(K)he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. ³ He will sit ^(L)as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring ^(M)offerings in righteousness to the Lord.^{[a] 4 (N)}Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be ^(O)a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those ^(P)who oppress the hired worker in his wages, ^(Q)the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Robbing God

⁶ “For ^(R)I the Lord do not change; ^(S)therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. ^7 (T)From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. ^(U)Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. ^(V)But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ ⁸ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. ^(W)But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ ^(X)In your tithes and contributions. ^9 (Y)You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. ^10 (Z)Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby ^(AA)put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open ^(AB)the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. ¹¹ I will rebuke ^(AC)the devourer^[b] for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. ¹² Then ^(AD)all nations will call you blessed, for you will be ^(AE)a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

Warning Against Idolatry

10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,^[a] that our fathers were all under ^(A)the cloud, and all ^(B)passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and ^(C)all ate the same ^(D)spiritual food, ⁴ and ^(E)all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for ^(F)they were overthrown^[b] in the wilderness.

⁶ Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as ^(G)they did. ^7 (H)Do not be idolaters ^(I)as some of them were; as it is written, ^(J)“The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” ^8 (K)We must not indulge in sexual immorality ^(L)as some of them did, and ^(M)twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. ⁹ We must not put Christ^[c] to the test, ^(N)as some of them did and ^(O)were destroyed by serpents, ¹⁰ nor grumble, ^(P)as some of them did and ^(Q)were destroyed by ^(R)the Destroyer. ¹¹ Now these things happened to them as an example, but ^(S)they were written down for our instruction, ^(T)on whom the end of the ages has come. ¹² Therefore ^(U)let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. ^(V)God is faithful, and ^(W)he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, ^(X)flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak ^(Y)as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. ^16 (Z)The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? ^(AA)The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one bread, we who are many are ^(AB)one body, for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸ Consider ^(AC)the people of Israel:^{[d] (AD)}are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? ¹⁹ What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that ^(AE)an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice ^(AF)they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. ^21 (AG)You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and ^(AH)the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and ^(AI)the table of demons. ^22 (AJ)Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? ^(AK)Are we stronger than he?

Do All to the Glory of God

^23 (AL)“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. ^24 (AM)Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. ^25 (AN)Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. ²⁶ For ^(AO)“the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.” ²⁷ If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, ^(AP)eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. ²⁸ But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— ²⁹ I do not mean ^(AQ)your conscience, but his. For ^(AR)why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? ³⁰ If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that ^(AS)for which I give thanks?

³¹ So, whether you eat or drink, or ^(AT)whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ^32 (AU)Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to ^(AV)the church of God, ³³ just as ^(AW)I try to please everyone in everything I do, ^(AX)not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

11 ^(AY)Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.