¹ And now, O priests,
    this commandment is for you.
² If you refuse to listen to me
    and do not sincerely resolve
to give glory to my name,
    says the Lord of hosts,
I will send a curse on you,
    and I will turn your blessings into a curse.
Indeed, I have already done so
    because you have not heeded my warning.
³ I will deprive you of the shoulder
    and spread dung on your faces,
the dung of your offerings,
    and I will banish you from my presence.
⁴ Then you will know
    that I sent you this commandment
because I wish to maintain
    my covenant with Levi,
    says the Lord of hosts.
⁵ My covenant with him
    was one of life and peace,
    which I bestowed on him.
He revered me
    and held my name in awe.
⁶ The instruction he offered was true,
    and no dishonesty issued from his mouth.
He walked with me in integrity and uprightness,
    and he turned many away from a sinful life.
⁷ The lips of a priest should safeguard knowledge,
    and people should seek instruction from his mouth
    because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
⁸ But you have turned aside from the way
    and caused many to stumble
    as the result of your instruction.
You have destroyed the covenant of Levi,
    says the Lord of hosts.
⁹ Therefore, I have made you despised and vile
    in the eyes of all the people,
inasmuch as you have disregarded my ways
    and have not been impartial
    in your interpretation of the law.

¹⁰ Do we all not have the one Father?
    Has not one God created us?
Why then do we break faith with one another,
    profaning the covenant of our ancestors?
¹¹ Judah^[b] has broken faith,
    and an abominable thing has been done
    in Israel and in Jerusalem.
By marrying the daughter of a foreign god,
    Judah has profaned the Lord’s beloved sanctuary.
¹² May the Lord banish from the tents of Jacob
    any who do this,
and also deprive them of any witness or advocate
    or someone to present offerings to the Lord of hosts.

¹³ And this you are to do as well:
    you must cover the altar of the Lord
    with tears, with weeping and moaning,
because at present he refuses to consider your offering
    or to accept it with satisfaction from your hand.
¹⁴ If you ask the reason why,
    it is because the Lord stands as witness
    between you and the wife of your youth
with whom you have broken faith,
    even though she is your partner
    and your wife by a solemn covenant.
¹⁵ Did not the one God make her,
    both flesh and spirit?
And what does the one God require
    but God-given offspring?
Therefore, you must safeguard your own life,
    and let none of you be unfaithful
    to the wife of your youth.
¹⁶ For I hate divorce,
    says the Lord, the God of Israel,
as well as covering one’s garment with injustice,
    says the Lord of hosts.
Therefore, have respect for your own life,
    and do not be unfaithful.

¹⁷ You have wearied the Lord with your words.
    Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?”
By asserting, “All who do evil
    are good in the eyes of the Lord;
    indeed, he delights in them.”
Or by asking,
    “Where is the God of justice?”