Warning to the Priests
2If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heart2:2 Is 42:25; 57:1; Jr 12:11 to honor my name,” says the Lord of Armies, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings.2:2 Dt 28:20; Pr 3:33; 28:27; Mal 3:9 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,2:3 Hs 4:6–8 and I will spread animal waste2:3 Dung or entrails over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices,2:3 Ex 29:14; Lv 16:27 and you will be taken away with it.
4Then you will know that I sent you this decree, so that my covenant with Levi2:4 Nm 25:11–13; Dt 10:8; 33:8–11; Neh 13:29; Jr 33:17–22 may continue,” says the Lord of Armies.
5“My covenant with him was one of life and peace,2:5 1Sm 25:6; Pr 3:2 and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.2:5 Mal 1:6
6True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me2:6 Gn 5:22,24; 6:9; Mc 6:8 in peace and integrity and turned many from iniquity.2:6 Is 53:6; Jr 23:22; Ezk 3:19–20
7For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Armies.2:7 2Ch 36:15–16; Hg 1:13
Judah’s Marital Unfaithfulness
10Don’t all of us have one Father?2:10 Ex 4:22–23; Is 63:16; Hs 11:1; Mal 1:6; Jn 8:41 Didn’t one God create us?2:10 Dt 32:6; Is 43:1–7; 64:8 Why then do we act treacherously against one another,2:10 Ex 21:8; Jdg 9:23; Jb 6:15; Is 21:2; Jr 3:20 profaning2:10 Nm 30:2; Ps 55:20; 89:34; Mal 1:12 the covenant of our ancestors?2:10 1Kg 8:21
11Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable2:11 Lv 18:22–30; Ezr 9:1–14; Neh 13:4–9 act has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned2:11 Jr 16:18; Ezk 44:7 the Lord’s sanctuary,2:11 Or profaned what is holy to the Lord2:11 Ex 36:1–6; Zph 3:4 which he loves,2:11 Ps 78:68–69 and has married the daughter of a foreign god.2:11 = a woman who worshiped a foreign god2:11 Dt 7:3–4; Ezr 9:1–2,10–14; Neh 13:23–30
13This is another thing you do. You are covering the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning,2:13 Ps 6:6–10 because he no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.2:13 1Kg 8:28–30; Is 56:7
14And you ask, “Why?” Because even though the Lord has been a witness2:14 Gn 31:50–53; Jdg 11:10; 1Sm 12:5 between you and the wife of your youth,2:14 Pr 2:16–17; 5:18; Is 54:6 you have acted treacherously against her. She was your marriage partner2:14 Ec 4:10 and your wife by covenant.2:14 Ezk 16:8,59–62; Hs 2:16–20
16“If he hates2:16 Gn 29:31; Dt 21:15–17; 22:13,16; Jdg 15:2; Pr 30:23 and divorces his wife,”2:16 Dt 24:1–4 says the Lord God of Israel, “he2:16 Or The Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce and the one who covers his garment with injustice,”2:16 Gn 6:11,13; Ps 73:6; Jr 22:3; Hab 1:2–3 says the Lord of Armies. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully,2:16 Lit Therefore, guard yourselves in your spirit and do not act treacherously.
Judgment at the Lord’s Coming
Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?”
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