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Malachi 2
New Century Version
Malachi 2
New Century Version
Rules for Priests
2 “Priests, this command is for you. 2 Listen to me. Pay attention to what I say. Honor my name,” says the Lord All-Powerful. “If you don’t, I will send a curse on you and on your blessings. I have already cursed them, because you don’t pay attention to what I say.
3 “I will punish your descendants. I will smear your faces with the animal insides left from your feasts, and you will be thrown away with it. 4 Then you will know that I am giving you this command so my agreement with Levi will continue,” says the Lord All-Powerful. 5 “My agreement for priests was with the tribe of Levi. I promised them life and peace so they would honor me. And they did honor me and fear me. 6 They taught the true teachings and spoke no lies. With peace and honesty they did what I said they should do, and they kept many people from sinning.
7 “A priest should teach what he knows, and people should learn the teachings from him, because he is the messenger of the Lord All-Powerful. 8 But you priests have stopped obeying me. With your teachings you have caused many people to do wrong. You have broken the agreement with the tribe of Levi!” says the Lord All-Powerful. 9 “You have not been careful to do what I say, but instead you take sides in court cases. So I have caused you to be hated and disgraced in front of everybody.”
Judah Was Not Loyal to God
10 We all have the same father; the same God made us. So why do people break their promises to each other and show no respect for the agreement our ancestors made with God? 11 The people of Judah have broken their promises. They have done something God hates in Israel and Jerusalem: The people of Judah did not respect the Temple that the Lord loves, and the men of Judah married women who worship foreign gods. 12 Whoever does this might bring offerings to the Lord All-Powerful, but the Lord will still cut that person off from the community of Israel.
13 This is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with your tears. You cry and moan, because he does not accept your offerings and is not pleased with what you bring. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord sees how you treated the wife you married when you were young. You broke your promise to her, even though she was your partner and you had an agreement with her. 15 God made husbands and wives to become one body and one spirit for his purpose—so they would have children who are true to God.
So be careful, and do not break your promise to the wife you married when you were young.
16 The Lord God of Israel says, “I hate divorce. And I hate people who do cruel things as easily as they put on clothes,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
So be careful. And do not break your trust.
The Special Day of Judging
17 You have tired the Lord with your words.
You ask, “How have we tired him?”
You did it by saying, “The Lord thinks anyone who does evil is good, and he is pleased with them.” Or you asked, “Where is the God who is fair?”
Malachi 2
Orthodox Jewish Bible
Malachi 2
Orthodox Jewish Bible
2 And now, O ye kohanim, this mitzvah is for you.
2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not take it to lev, to give kavod unto My name, saith Hashem Tzva’os, I will even send a me’erah (curse) upon you, and I will curse your brakhot; yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not take it to lev.
3 Hineni, I am rebuking your zera, and I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your chagim; and it will take you away with it.
4 And ye shall have da’as that I have sent this mitzvah unto you, that My brit might continue with Levi, saith Hashem Tzva’os.
5 My brit was with him of chayyim and shalom; and I gave them to him that he might fear Me; so he feared Me, and stood in reverence before My name.
6 Torat emes was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found on his lips: he walked with Me in shalom and yashrus, and did turn rabbim (many) away from avon (iniquity).
7 For the kohen’s lips should preserve da’as, and they should seek torah at his mouth: for he is the malach Hashem Tzva’os.
8 But ye are departed out of HaDerech; ye have caused rabbim to fall into a michshol (stumbling block) at the torah (teaching); ye have corrupted the Brit of Levi saith Hashem Tzva’os.
9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and shefalim before kol HaAm because ye have not been shomrim of darkhei of Me, but have shown partiality in torah.
10 Have we not all Av Echad? Hath not El Echad created us? Why do we commit chillul Brit Avoteinu by every man breaking faith with his brother?
11 Yehudah hath broken faith, and a toeva (abomination) is committed in Yisroel and in Yerushalayim; for Yehudah hath committed chillul against the Beis Hamikdash Hashem loves, by marrying the bat el nekhar.
12 May Hashem cut off the man that doeth this, [offspring] awake and answering, from the ohalim of Ya’akov, that offereth a minchah unto Hashem Tzva’os.
13 And this too have ye done, covering the mizbe’ach of Hashem with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, because that He regardeth not the minchah any more, nor receiveth it with ratzon (good will) at your hand.
14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Hashem hath been ed (witness) between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, breaking faith: yet is she thy chaveret, and the wife of thy brit.
15 And did not Hashem make echad? And the remnant of the ruach is Hashem’s. And why echad? That He might seek zera Elohim. Therefore be shomer of your ruach, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16 For Hashem Elohei Yisroel saith that He hateth putting away: for it covereth one’s garment with chamas (violence), saith the Hashem Tzva’os: therefore, be shomer of your ruach, that ye deal not treacherously, breaking faith.
17 Ye have wearied Hashem with your devarim. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied Him? When ye say, Everyone that doeth rah is tov in the sight of Hashem, and in them Hashem finds chafetz; or, Where is Elohei HaMishpat?
Malachi 2
New International Version
Malachi 2
New International Version
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 Through Divorce
10 Do we not all have one Father[b]?(AB) Did not one God create us?(AC) Why do we profane the covenant(AD) of our ancestors by being unfaithful(AE) to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable(AF) thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves(AG) by marrying(AH) women who worship a foreign god.(AI) 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove(AJ) him from the tents of Jacob[c](AK)—even though he brings an offering(AL) to the Lord Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears.(AM) You weep and wail(AN) because he no longer looks with favor(AO) on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.(AP) 14 You ask,(AQ) “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness(AR) between you and the wife of your youth.(AS) You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.(AT)
15 Has not the one God made you?(AU) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[d](AV) So be on your guard,(AW) and do not be unfaithful(AX) to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,(AY)” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”[e](AZ) says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard,(BA) and do not be unfaithful.
Breaking Covenant Through Injustice
17 You have wearied(BB) the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.(BC)
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased(BD) with them” or “Where is the God of justice?(BE)”
Footnotes
- Malachi 2:3 Or will blight your grain
- 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,”
New Century Version (NCV) 
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB)
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.