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Malachi 2:7-3:9
New International Version
Malachi 2:7-3:9
New International Version
7 “For the lips of a priest(A) ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger(B) of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.(C) 8 But you have turned from the way(D) and by your teaching have caused many to stumble;(E) you have violated the covenant(F) with Levi,”(G) says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despised(H) and humiliated(I) before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality(J) in matters of the law.”(K)
Breaking Covenant Through Divorce
10 Do we not all have one Father[a]?(L) Did not one God create us?(M) Why do we profane the covenant(N) of our ancestors by being unfaithful(O) to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable(P) thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves(Q) by marrying(R) women who worship a foreign god.(S) 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove(T) him from the tents of Jacob[b](U)—even though he brings an offering(V) to the Lord Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears.(W) You weep and wail(X) because he no longer looks with favor(Y) on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.(Z) 14 You ask,(AA) “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness(AB) between you and the wife of your youth.(AC) You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.(AD)
15 Has not the one God made you?(AE) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[c](AF) So be on your guard,(AG) and do not be unfaithful(AH) to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,(AI)” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”[d](AJ) says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard,(AK) and do not be unfaithful.
Breaking Covenant Through Injustice
17 You have wearied(AL) the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.(AM)
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased(AN) with them” or “Where is the God of justice?(AO)”
3 “I will send my messenger,(AP) who will prepare the way before me.(AQ) Then suddenly the Lord(AR) you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,(AS) whom you desire,(AT) will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure(AU) the day of his coming?(AV) Who can stand(AW) when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire(AX) or a launderer’s soap.(AY) 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;(AZ) he will purify(BA) the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.(BB) Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,(BC) 4 and the offerings(BD) of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.(BE)
5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,(BF) adulterers(BG) and perjurers,(BH) against those who defraud laborers of their wages,(BI) who oppress the widows(BJ) and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners(BK) among you of justice, but do not fear(BL) me,” says the Lord Almighty.
Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes
6 “I the Lord do not change.(BM) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.(BN) 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away(BO) from my decrees and have not kept them. Return(BP) to me, and I will return to you,”(BQ) says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask,(BR) ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob(BS) God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes(BT) and offerings. 9 You are under a curse(BU)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.
Footnotes
- Malachi 2:10 Or father
- Malachi 2:12 Or 12 May the Lord remove from the tents of Jacob anyone who gives testimony in behalf of the man who does this
- Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
- Malachi 2:16 Or “I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “because the man who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,”
Malachi 2:7-3:9
King James Version
Malachi 2:7-3:9
King James Version
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?
3 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.
6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
New International Version (NIV) 
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