CHAPTER 2
“If
you do not
listen,
and if
you do not
take it
to
heart
to honor
My name,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts,
“I will send
a curse among you,
and I will curse
your blessings.
Yes,
I have already begun to curse them,
because
you are not
taking
it to
heart.
Behold,
I will rebuke
your
descendants,
and I will spread
dung
on
your faces,
the waste
from your feasts,
and you will be carried off
with it.”
Then you will know
that
I have sent
you
this
commandment,
that My covenant
with
Levi
may continue,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
“My covenant
with him
was
one of life
and peace,
and I gave them
to him;
it called for reverence,
and he revered Me
and stood in awe
of My name.
TRUE
instruction
was
in his mouth,
and nothing
FALSE
was found
on his lips.
He walked
with Me
in peace
and uprightness,
and he turned
many
from iniquity.
For
the lips
of a priest
should preserve
knowledge,
and people should seek
instruction
from his mouth,
because
he
is the messenger
of the LORD
of Hosts.”
“But you
have departed
from
the way,
and your instruction
has caused many
to stumble.
You have violated
the covenant
of Levi,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
“So I
in turn
have made
you despised
and humiliated
before all
the people,
because
you have not
kept
My ways,
but have shown partiality
in matters of the law.”
Do we not
all
have one
Father?
Did not
one
God
create us?
Why then
do we break faith
with one
another
so as to profane
the covenant
of our fathers?
Judah
has broken faith;
an abomination
has been committed
in Israel
and in Jerusalem.
For
Judah
has profaned
the LORD's
beloved
sanctuary
by marrying
the daughter
of a foreign
god.
As for the man
who
does this,
may the LORD
cut off
from the tents
of Jacob
everyone who is awake
and aware—
even if he brings
an offering
to the LORD
of Hosts.
And this
is another
thing you do:
You cover
the altar
of the LORD
with tears,
with weeping
and groaning,
because He no
longer
regards
your offerings
or receives them
gladly
from your hands.
Yet you ask,
“Why?”
It is because
the LORD
has been a witness
between you
and
the wife
of your youth,
against whom
you
have broken faith,
though she is
your companion
and your wife
by covenant.
Has not the LORD
made them
one,
having a portion
of the Spirit?
And why
one?
Because He seeks
godly
offspring.
Therefore guard yourselves
in your spirit
and do not
break faith
with the wife
of your youth.
“For
I hate
divorce,”
says
the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
“and I hate when a man covers himself
and his garment
with
violence,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
Therefore guard yourselves
in your spirit
and do not
break faith.
You have wearied
the LORD
with your words;
yet you ask,
“How
have we wearied Him?”
By saying,
“All
who do
evil
are good
in the sight
of the LORD,
and in them
He
delights,”
or,
“Where
is the God
of justice?”