The Lord Rebukes the Priests
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3If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send 4the curse upon you and I will curse 5your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.
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Behold, 6I will rebuke your offspring,a and 7spread dung on your faces, the 8dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.b
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So shall you know that I have sent 9this command to you, that 10my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts.
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My covenant with him was one of life and 11peace, and I gave them to him. 12It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.
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13True instructionc was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he 14turned many from iniquity.
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For 15the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and peopled should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
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But you have turned aside from the way. 16You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted 17the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts,
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and so 18I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but 19show partiality in your instruction."
Judah Profaned the Covenant
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Have we not all 20one Father? Has not 21one God created us? Why then are we 22faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
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Judah has been 23faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For 24Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
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May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendante of the man who does this, who 25brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!
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And this second thing you do. 26You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
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27But you say, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD 28 was witness between you and the wife of your youth, 29to whom 30you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
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31Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?f And what was the one Godg seeking?h32 Godly offspring. So guard yourselvesi in your spirit, and let none of you be 33faithless to the wife of your youth.
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"For 34the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,j says the LORD, the God of Israel, coversk his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and 35do not be faithless."
The Messenger of the Lord
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)