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Malachi  


2 : 1 And now,O priests,this command is for you.
2 : 2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says theLordof hosts, then I will sendthe curse upon you and I will curseyour blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.
2 : 3 Behold,I will rebuke your offspring,andspread dung on your faces, thedung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.
2 : 4 So shall you know that I have sentthis command to you, thatmy covenant with Levi may stand, says theLordof hosts.
2 : 5 My covenant with him was one of life andpeace, and I gave them to him.It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.
2 : 6 True instructionwas in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and heturned many from iniquity.
2 : 7 Forthe lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and peopleshould seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of theLordof hosts.
2 : 8 But you have turned aside from the way.You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corruptedthe covenant of Levi, says theLordof hosts,
2 : 9 and soI make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways butshow partiality in your instruction.
2 : 10 Have we not allone Father? Has notone God created us? Why then are wefaithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
2 : 11 Judah has beenfaithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. ForJudah has profaned the sanctuary of theLord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
2 : 12 May theLordcut off from the tents of Jacob any descendantof the man who does this, whobrings an offering to theLordof hosts!
2 : 13 And this second thing you do.You cover theLord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
2 : 14 But you say,Why does he not?Because theLordwas witness between you and the wife of your youth,to whomyou have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
2 : 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?And what was the one Godseeking?Godly offspring. So guard yourselvesin your spirit, and let none of you befaithless to the wife of your youth.
2 : 16 Forthe man who does not love his wife but divorces her,says theLord, the God of Israel, covershis garment with violence, says theLordof hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, anddo not be faithless.
2 : 17 You have wearied theLordwith your words.But you say,How have we wearied him?By saying,Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of theLord, and he delights in them.Or by asking,Where is the God of justice?