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. ⁹ “So I have caused you to be despised^(X) and humiliated^(Y) before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality^(Z) in matters of the law.”^(AA)

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

⁶ “I the Lord do not change.^(A) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.^{(B) 7} Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away^(C) from my decrees and have not kept them. Return^(D) to me, and I will return to you,”^(E) says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask,^(F) ‘How are we to return?’

⁸ “Will a mere mortal rob^(G) God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes^(H) and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse^(I)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe^(J) into the storehouse,^(K) that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates^(L) of heaven and pour out^(M) so much blessing^(N) that there will not be room enough to store it.^{(O) 11} I will prevent pests from devouring^(P) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,^(Q)” says the Lord Almighty. ¹² “Then all the nations will call you blessed,^(R) for yours will be a delightful land,”^(S) says the Lord Almighty.^(T)