1"And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. 2If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to My name," says the LORD of hosts, "then I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yea, I have indeed cursed them already because you do not lay it to heart. 3Behold, I will rebuke your seed; and I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your appointed feasts. And one shall carry you away with it. 4And you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, so that My covenant might be with Levi," says the LORD of hosts. 5"My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him for fear; that he might fear Me, and he was in awe before My name. 6The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and turned away many from iniquity, 7For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and the people should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. 8But you have departed out of the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of hosts. 9"Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, just as you have not kept My ways but have been partial in the law."

10Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously, each man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12The LORD will cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this--the one who calls and the one who answers--and him who offers an offering to the LORD of hosts.

13And this is a second thing you have done, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, weeping and groaning, so that He does not regard the offering and no longer receives it with delight from your hand. 14Yet you say, "Why?" Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously--yet she is your companion and your covenant wife. 15And did He not make you one? Yet the vestige of the Spirit is in him. And why one? That He might seek a godly seed. Therefore guard your spirit, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth. 16The LORD, the God of Israel, says, "I hate divorce--and the covering of violence with one's garment," says the LORD of hosts."Therefore guard your spirit, and do not act treacherously."

17You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, "In what way have we wearied Him?" When you say, "Every evildoer is good in the eyes of the LORD, and He delights in them;" or, "Where is the God of judgment?"