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Malachi 2
New International Reader's Version

The Lord Warns the Priests

2 “Now I am giving this warning to you priests. 2 Listen to it. Honor me with all your heart,” says the Lord who rules over all. “If you do not, I will send a curse on you. I will turn your blessings into curses. In fact, I have already done that because you have not honored me with all your heart.

3 “Because of what you have done, I will punish your children. I will smear the waste from your sacrifices on your faces. And you will be carried off to the dump along with it. 4 You will know that I have given you this warning. I have warned you so that my covenant with Levi will continue,” says the Lord who rules over all. 5 “My covenant promised Levi life and peace. So I gave them to him. I required him to respect me. And he had great respect for my name. 6 True teaching came from his mouth. Nothing but the truth came from his lips. He walked with me in peace. He did what was right. He turned many people away from their sins.

7 “The lips of a priest should guard knowledge. After all, he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all. And people seek instruction from his mouth. 8 But you have turned away from the right path. Your teaching has caused many people to trip and fall. You have broken my covenant with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all. 9 “So I have caused all the people to hate you. They have lost respect for you. You have not done what I told you to do. Instead, you have favored one person over another in matters of the law.”

Breaking the Covenant Through Divorce

10 People of Judah, all of us have one Father. One God created us. So why do we break the covenant the Lord made with our people of long ago? We do this by being unfaithful to one another.

11 And Judah has been unfaithful. A hateful thing has been done in Israel and Jerusalem. The Lord loves his temple. But Judah has made it impure. Their men have married women who worship other gods. 12 May the Lord punish the man who marries a woman like this. It doesn’t matter who that man is. May the Lord who rules over all remove him from the tents of Jacob’s people. May the Lord remove him even if he brings an offering to him.

13 Here’s something else you do. You flood the Lord’s altar with your tears. You weep and cry because your offerings don’t please him anymore. He doesn’t accept them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It’s because the Lord is holding you responsible. He watches how you treat the wife you married when you were young. You have been unfaithful to her. You did it even though she’s your partner. You promised to stay married to her. And the Lord was a witness to it.

15 Hasn’t the one God made the two of you one also? Both of you belong to him in body and spirit. And why has the one God made you one? Because he wants his children to be like him. So be careful. Don’t be unfaithful to the wife you married when you were young.

16 “Suppose a man hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord God of Israel. “Then he is harming the one he should protect,” says the Lord who rules over all.

So be careful. And don’t be unfaithful.

Breaking the Covenant by Treating Others Unfairly

17 You have worn out the Lord by what you keep saying.

“How have we worn him out?” you ask.

You have done it by saying, “All those who do evil things are good in the Lord’s sight. And he is pleased with them.” Or you ask, “Is God really fair?”

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Malachi 2
Holman Christian Standard Bible

Warning to the Priests

2 “Therefore, this decree(A) is for you priests: 2 If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heart(B) to honor My name,” says Yahweh of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings.(C) In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.

3 “Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants,(D) and I will spread animal waste[a] over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices,(E) and you will be taken away with it. 4 Then you will know that I sent you this decree so My covenant with Levi(F) may continue,” says the Lord of Hosts. 5 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace,(G) and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.(H) 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me(I) in peace and fairness and turned many from sin.(J) 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.(K)

8 “You, on the other hand, have turned from the way.(L) You have caused many to stumble(M) by your instruction. You have violated[b] the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Hosts. 9 “So I in turn have made you despised(N) and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in your instruction.”(O)

Judah’s Marital Unfaithfulness

10 Don’t all of us have one Father?(P) Didn’t one God create us?(Q) Why then do we act treacherously against one another,(R) profaning(S) the covenant of our fathers?(T) 11 Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable(U) thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned(V) the Lord’s sanctuary,[c](W) which He loves,(X) and has married the daughter of a foreign god.[d](Y) 12 To the man who does this, may the Lord cut off(Z) any descendants[e][f](AA) from the tents of Jacob, even if they present an offering to the Lord of Hosts.

13 And this is another thing you do: you cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning,(AB) because He no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.(AC)

14 Yet you ask, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been a witness(AD) between you and the wife of your youth.(AE) You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partner(AF) and your wife by covenant.(AG) 15 Didn’t the one God make us with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek?[g] A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully,[h](AH) and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth.

16 “If he hates(AI) and divorces his wife,(AJ)” says the Lord God of Israel, “he[i] covers his garment with injustice,”(AK) says the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully,[j] and do not act treacherously.

Judgment at the Lord’s Coming

17 You have wearied the Lord(AL) with your words.

Yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?”

When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord’s sight, and He is pleased with them,”(AM) or “Where is the God of justice?”(AN)

Footnotes

  1. Malachi 2:3 Dung or entrails
  2. Malachi 2:8 Lit corrupted
  3. Malachi 2:11 Or profaned what is holy to the Lord
  4. Malachi 2:11 = a woman who worshiped a foreign god
  5. Malachi 2:12 One Hb ms, LXX, DSS read off one witnessing or answering
  6. Malachi 2:12 Lit off one waking or answering; Hb obscure
  7. Malachi 2:15 Or Did the One not make them? So their flesh and spirit belong to Him, or No one who does this even has a remnant of the Spirit in him; Hb obscure
  8. Malachi 2:15 Lit So guard yourselves in your spirit
  9. Malachi 2:16 Or The Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce and the one who
  10. Malachi 2:16 Lit Therefore, guard yourselves in your spirit
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