2 And now, O priests, this command is for you. ² If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings; indeed, I have already cursed them^[a] because you do not lay it to heart.^{(A) 3} I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and I will put you out of my presence.^[b]

⁴ Know, then, that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may hold, says the Lord of hosts.^{(B) 5} My covenant with him was a covenant of life and well-being, which I gave him; this called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.^{(C) 6} True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in integrity and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.^{(D) 7} For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.^{(E) 8} But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts,^{(F) 9} so I make you despised and humbled before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in your instruction.^(G)

The Covenant Profaned by Judah

¹⁰ Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?^{(H) 11} Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.^{(I) 12} For the one who does this, may the Lord cut off any witness^[c] or advocate from the tents of Jacob or anyone who could bring an offering to the Lord of hosts.^(J)

¹³ And this you do as well: You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor at your hand. ¹⁴ You ask, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.^{(K) 15} Did God^[d] not make them one, flesh with spirit in it? And what does the one desire? Godly offspring. So look to yourselves, and do not let anyone be faithless to the wife of his youth.^{[e](L) 16} For I hate^[f] divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless.

The Rights of an Apostle

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

³ This is my defense to those who would examine me. ⁴ Do we not have the right to our food and drink?^{(C) 5} Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife,^[a] as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?^{(D) 6} Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?^{(E) 7} Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk?^(F)

⁸ Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same? ⁹ For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?^{(G) 10} Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop. ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we harvest material^[b] things?^{(H) 12} If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.^{(I) 13} Do you not know that those who work in the temple service get their food from the temple and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar?^{(J) 14} In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.^(K)

¹⁵ But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this so that they may be applied in my case. Indeed, I would rather die than that—no one will deprive me of my ground for boasting! ¹⁶ If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I do this of my own will, I have a wage, but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.^{(L) 18} What then is my wage? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

¹⁹ For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might gain all the more.^{(M) 20} To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to gain Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not outside God’s law but am within Christ’s law) so that I might gain those outside the law.^{(N) 22} To the weak I became weak, so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a partner in it.

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.^{(O) 25} Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.^{(P) 26} So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air, ²⁷ but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.^(Q)

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

The Coming Messenger

3 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.^{(B) 2} But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like washers’ soap;^{(C) 3} he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.^{[a](D) 4} 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 swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.^(E)

⁶ For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.^{(F) 7} Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, “How shall we return?”^(G)

Do Not Rob God

⁸ Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings!^{(H) 9} You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! ¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.^{(I) 11} I will rebuke the locust^[b] for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. ¹² Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

Warnings from Israel’s History

10 I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,^{(A) 2} and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and all ate the same spiritual food,^{(B) 4} and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.^{(C) 5} Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.^(D)

⁶ Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.^{(E) 7} Do not become idolaters as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.”^{(F) 8} We must not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.^{(G) 9} We must not put Christ^[a] to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.^{(H) 10} And do not complain, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.^{(I) 11} These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.^{(J) 12} So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. ¹³ No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.^(K)

¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from the worship of idols.^{(L) 15} I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.^{(M) 18} Consider the people of Israel:^[b] Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?^{(N) 19} What do I imply, then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, I imply that what they^[c] sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons.^{(O) 21} You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.^{(P) 22} Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?^(Q)

Do All to the Glory of God

²³ “All things are permitted,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are permitted,” but not all things build up. ²⁴ Do not seek your own advantage but that of the other.^{(R) 25} Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience, ²⁶ for “the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s.”^{(S) 27} If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you are disposed to go, 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, out of consideration for the one who informed you and for the sake of conscience— ²⁹ I mean the other’s conscience, not your own. For why should my freedom be subject to the judgment of someone else’s conscience?^{(T) 30} If I partake with thankfulness, why should I be denounced because of that for which I give thanks?^(U)

³¹ So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.^{(V) 32} Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God,^{(W) 33} just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage but that of many, so that they may be saved.^(X) 11 ¹ Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.^(Y)