Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Prayer for Protection

The Priests Don’t Respect God

⁶ The Lord of heaven’s armies says, “A son honors his father. A servant honors his master. I am a father. So why don’t you honor me? I am a master. So why don’t you respect me? You priests do not respect me.

“But you ask, ‘How have we shown you disrespect?’

⁷ “You have shown it by bringing unclean sacrifices to my altar.

“But you ask, ‘What makes them unclean?’

“They are unclean because you don’t show respect for my altar. ⁸ You bring blind animals as sacrifices, and that is wrong. You bring crippled and sick animals. That is wrong. Try giving them to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? He wouldn’t accept you,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies.

⁹ “Now ask God to be kind to you. But he won’t accept you with such offerings,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies.

¹⁰ “I wish one of you would close the Temple doors. Then you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you. I will not accept your gifts,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies. ¹¹ “From the east to the west I will be honored among the nations. Everywhere they will bring incense and clean offerings to me. I will be honored among the nations,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies.

¹² “But you don’t honor me. You say about the Lord’s altar, ‘It is unclean. The food has no worth.’ ¹³ You say, ‘We are tired of doing this.’ And you sniff at it in disgust,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies.

“And you bring hurt, crippled and sick animals. You bring them as gifts. But I won’t accept them from you,” says the Lord. ¹⁴ “The cheat will be cursed. He has an animal in his flock. He promises to offer it. But then he offers me an animal that has something wrong with it. I am a great king,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies. “I am feared by all the nations.

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 of heaven’s armies. “If you don’t, I will send a curse on you. I will curse 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 garbage from your feasts. And you will be thrown away with it. ⁴ Then you will know why I am giving you this command. It is so that my agreement with Levi will continue,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies. ⁵ “My agreement for priests was with the tribe of Levi. I promised them life and peace. And I gave these to them so they would honor me. They did honor me and fear me. ⁶ They taught the true teachings. They spoke no lies. With peace and honesty they did what I said they should do. They kept many people from sinning.

⁷ “A priest should teach what he knows. People should learn the teachings from him because he is the messenger of the Lord of heaven’s armies. 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 of heaven’s armies. ⁹ “You have not been careful to do what I say. You take sides in court cases. So I have caused you to be hated and disgraced in front of everybody.”

¹³ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You close the door for people to enter the kingdom of heaven. You yourselves don’t enter, and you stop others who are trying to enter. ¹⁴ [How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites. You take away widows’ houses, and you make long prayers so that people can see you. So you will have a worse punishment.]^[a]

¹⁵ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You travel across land and sea to find one person who will follow your ways. When you find that person, you make him more fit for hell than you are.

¹⁶ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You guide the people, but you are blind. You say, ‘If anyone swears by the Temple when he makes a promise, that means nothing. But if anyone swears by the gold that is in the Temple, then he must keep that promise.’ ¹⁷ You are blind fools! Which is greater: the gold or the Temple? The Temple makes that gold holy. ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar when he makes a promise, that means nothing. But if he swears by the gift on the altar, then he must keep his promise.’ ¹⁹ You are blind! Which is greater: the gift or the altar? The altar makes the gift holy. ²⁰ The person who swears by the altar is really using the altar and also everything on the altar. ²¹ And the person who uses the Temple to make a promise is really using the Temple and also everything in the Temple. ²² The person who uses heaven to make a promise is also using God’s throne and the One who sits on that throne.

²³ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You give to God one-tenth of everything you earn—even your mint, dill, and cummin.^[b] But you don’t obey the really important teachings of the law—being fair, showing mercy, and being loyal. These are the things you should do, as well as those other things. ²⁴ You guide the people, but you are blind! You are like a person who picks a fly out of his drink and then swallows a camel!^[c]

²⁵ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You wash the outside of your cups and dishes. But inside they are full of things that you got by cheating others and pleasing only yourselves. ²⁶ Pharisees, you are blind! First make the inside of the cup clean and good. Then the outside of the cup can be truly clean.

²⁷ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You are like tombs that are painted white. Outside, those tombs look fine. But inside, they are full of the bones of dead people, and all kinds of unclean things are there. ²⁸ It is the same with you. People look at you and think you are good. But on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and evil.