2 |If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,| says the LORD of hosts, |then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them [already], because you are not taking [it] to heart.
3 |Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
4 |Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may continue with Levi,| says the LORD of hosts.
5 |My covenant with him was [one of] life and peace, and I gave them to him [as an object of] reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.
6 |true instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity.
7 |For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
8 |But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,| says the LORD of hosts.
9 |So I also have made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction.
10 |Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?
11 |Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been 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.
12 |[As] for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob [everyone] who awakes and answers, or who presents an offering to the LORD of hosts.
13 |This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts [it with] favor from your hand.
14 |Yet you say, 'For what reason?' Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
15 |But not one has done [so] who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did [that] one [do] while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.
16 |For I hate divorce,| says the LORD, the God of Israel, |and him who covers his garment with wrong,| says the LORD of hosts. |So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.|
17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, |How have we wearied [Him]?| In that you say, |Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,| or, |Where is the God of justice?|
