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)”

3 “I will send my messenger,^(BF) who will prepare the way before me.^(BG) Then suddenly the Lord^(BH) you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,^(BI) whom you desire,^(BJ) will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

² But who can endure^(BK) the day of his coming?^(BL) Who can stand^(BM) when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire^(BN) or a launderer’s soap.^{(BO) 3} He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;^(BP) he will purify^(BQ) the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.^(BR) Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,^{(BS) 4} and the offerings^(BT) of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.^(BU)

⁵ “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,^(BV) adulterers^(BW) and perjurers,^(BX) against those who defraud laborers of their wages,^(BY) who oppress the widows^(BZ) and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners^(CA) among you of justice, but do not fear^(CB) me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

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

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

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

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

“In tithes^(CJ) and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse^(CK)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe^(CL) into the storehouse,^(CM) 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^(CN) of heaven and pour out^(CO) so much blessing^(CP) that there will not be room enough to store it.^{(CQ) 11} I will prevent pests from devouring^(CR) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,^(CS)” says the Lord Almighty. ¹² “Then all the nations will call you blessed,^(CT) for yours will be a delightful land,”^(CU) says the Lord Almighty.^(CV)

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

¹³ “You have spoken arrogantly^(CW) against me,” says the Lord.

“Yet you ask,^(CX) ‘What have we said against you?’

¹⁴ “You have said, ‘It is futile^(CY) to serve^(CZ) God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements^(DA) and going about like mourners^(DB) before the Lord Almighty? ¹⁵ But now we call the arrogant^(DC) blessed. Certainly evildoers^(DD) prosper,^(DE) and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

The Faithful Remnant

¹⁶ Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.^(DF) A scroll^(DG) of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared^(DH) the Lord and honored his name.

¹⁷ “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my^(DI) treasured possession.^(DJ) I will spare^(DK) them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son^(DL) who serves him. ¹⁸ And you will again see the distinction between the righteous^(DM) and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.^(DN)

Judgment and Covenant Renewal

4 ^[f]“Surely the day is coming;^(DO) it will burn like a furnace.^(DP) All the arrogant^(DQ) and every evildoer will be stubble,^(DR) and the day that is coming will set them on fire,^(DS)” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch^(DT) will be left to them. ² But for you who revere my name,^(DU) the sun of righteousness^(DV) will rise with healing^(DW) in its rays. And you will go out and frolic^(DX) like well-fed calves. ³ Then you will trample^(DY) on the wicked; they will be ashes^(DZ) under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

⁴ “Remember the law^(EA) of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb^(EB) for all Israel.^(EC)

⁵ “See, I will send the prophet Elijah^(ED) to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.^{(EE) 6} He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children,^(EF) and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike^(EG) the land with total destruction.”^(EH)

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah^(A)(B)(C)

1 This is the genealogy^[a] of Jesus the Messiah^[b] the son of David,^(D) the son of Abraham:^(E)

¹⁷ Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.^{(S) 19} Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce^(T) her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel^(U) of the Lord appeared to him in a dream^(V) and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[f](W) because he will save his people from their sins.”^(X)

²² All this took place to fulfill^(Y) what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[g](Z) (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel^(AA) of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.^(AB)

The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,^(AC) during the time of King Herod,^(AD) Magi^[h] from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?^(AE) We saw his star^(AF) when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem^(AG) in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.^(AI) Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts^(AJ) of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned^(AK) in a dream^(AL) not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

¹³ When they had gone, an angel^(AM) of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.^(AN) “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”^(AO)

¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled^(AP) what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”^[j](AQ)

¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:^(AR)

The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel^(AU) of the Lord appeared in a dream^(AV) to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰ and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”^(AW)

²¹ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream,^(AX) he withdrew to the district of Galilee,^{(AY) 23} and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.^(AZ) So was fulfilled^(BA) what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.^(BB)