Malachi 2
All 17 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.
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- 1"Now listen, priests — this command is directed at you.
- 2If you refuse to listen, if you won't take this to heart and give glory to my name," says the LORD of Armies, "then I will send a curse on you. I will curse your blessings — in fact, I've already cursed them, because you haven't taken this to heart.
- 3Look, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your solemn feasts; and I will take you away with it.
- 4Then you'll understand that I sent this command so that my covenant with Levi would stand," says the LORD of Armies.
- 5My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him because he feared me and was afraid before my name.
- 6True instruction was on his lips, and nothing false was found in his words. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin.
- 7A priest's lips should guard knowledge, and people should be able to go to him for instruction, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Armies.
- 8But you have wandered off the path. Your teaching has caused many to stumble. You have destroyed the covenant with Levi," says the LORD of Armies.
- 9"So I have made you despised and humiliated in front of everyone, because you haven't followed my ways. Instead, you've shown favoritism when applying the law."
- 10Don't we all share one father? Didn't one God create us? Then why do we betray each other, dishonoring the covenant of our ancestors?
- 11Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
- 12The LORD will cut off the man who does this, both the master and the scholar, from the tents of Jacob, even if he brings an offering to the LORD of hosts.
- 13Here's another thing you do: you flood the LORD's altar with tears, weeping and groaning, because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them from your hands.
- 14You ask, "Why not?" Because the LORD was a witness between you and the wife you married when you were young. You have betrayed her, even though she is your partner, the wife you made a covenant with.
- 15And did he not make one? Yet he had the remnant of the spirit. And why one? That he might seek a godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
- 16For the LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates putting away; for he covers violence with his garment, says the LORD of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.
- 17You have worn the LORD out with your words. Yet you ask, "How have we worn him out?" By saying, "Everyone who does evil is good in the LORD's eyes, and he's delighted with them" — or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"