Corrupt Priests
“And now, O apriests, this commandment is for you.
2 aIf you will not hear,
And if you will not take it to heart,
To give glory to My name,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“I will send a curse upon you,
And I will curse your blessings.
Yes, I have cursed them balready,
Because you do not take it to heart.
3 “Behold, I will rebuke your descendants
And spread arefuse on your faces,
The refuse of your solemn feasts;
And one will btake you away with it.
4 Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you,
That My covenant with Levi may continue,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
5 “Mya covenant was with him, one of life and peace,
And I gave them to him bthat he might fear Me;
So he feared Me
And was reverent before My name.
6 aThe law of truth was in his mouth,
And injustice was not found on his lips.
He walked with Me in peace and equity,
And bturned many away from iniquity.
7 “Fora the lips of a priest should keep knowledge,
And people should seek the law from his mouth;
bFor he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But you have departed from the way;
You ahave caused many to stumble at the law.
bYou have corrupted the covenant of Levi,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
9 “Therefore aI also have made you contemptible and base
Before all the people,
Because you have not kept My ways
But have shown bpartiality in the law.”
Treachery of Infidelity
10 aHave we not all one Father?
bHas not one God created us?
Why do we deal treacherously with one another
By profaning the covenant of the fathers?
11 Judah has dealt treacherously,
And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,
For Judah has aprofaned
The Lord’s holy institution which He loves:
He has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob
The man who does this, being awake and aware,
Yet awho brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!
13 And this is the second thing you do:
You cover the altar of the Lord with tears,
With weeping and crying;
So He does not regard the offering anymore,
Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
14 Yet you say, “For what reason?”
Because the Lord has been witness
Between you and athe wife of your youth,
With whom you have dealt treacherously;
bYet she is your companion
And your wife by covenant.
15 But adid He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks bgodly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.
16 “For athe Lord God of Israel says
That He hates divorce,
For it covers one’s garment with violence,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
“Therefore take heed to your spirit,
That you do not deal treacherously.”
17 aYou have wearied the Lord with your words;
Yet you say,
“In what way have we wearied Him?”
In that you say,
b“Everyone who does evil
Is good in the sight of the Lord,
And He delights in them,”
Or, “Where is the God of justice?”
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved.