“And now, this commandment is for you, the priests. 2 If you do ^anot listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the LORD of armies, “then I will send the ^bcurse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have ^ccursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart. 3 Behold, I am going to ^arebuke your ¹descendants, and I will ^bspread ²dung on your faces, the ³dung of your ^cfeasts; and you will be taken away ⁴with it. 4 Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, ¹so that My ^acovenant may ²continue with Levi,” says the LORD of armies. 5 “My covenant with him was one of life and ^apeace, and I gave them to him as an object of ¹reverence; so he ^2brevered Me and was in awe of My name. 6 ^1aTrue instruction was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips; he walked ^bwith Me in peace and justice, and he ^cturned many back from wrongdoing. 7 For the lips of a priest should maintain ^aknowledge, and people should ^bseek ¹instruction from his mouth; for he is the ^cmessenger of the LORD of armies. 8 But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to ^astumble ¹by the instruction; you have ^bruined the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of armies. 9 “So ^aI also have made you despised and of ^blow reputation ¹in the view of all the people, since you are not keeping My ways but are showing ^cpartiality in the ²instruction.”

10 Do we not all have ^aone Father? ^bIs it not one God who has created us? Why do we deal ^ctreacherously, each against his brother so as to profane the ^dcovenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has dealt ^atreacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has ^bprofaned the sanctuary of the LORD ¹which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, may the ^aLORD eliminate from the tents of Jacob everyone who is awake and answers, or who ^bpresents ¹an offering to the LORD of armies.

13 And this is ¹another thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and sighing, because He ^ano longer gives attention to the ²offering 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 ^awife of your youth, against whom you have dealt ^btreacherously, though she is your marriage companion and your wife by covenant. 15 ¹But not one has ^adone so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And ²why the one? He was seeking a ^bgodly offspring. Be careful then about your spirit, and see that none of you deals ^ctreacherously against the wife of your youth. 16 “For ¹I hate ^2adivorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and ³him who covers his garment with ^bviolence,” says the LORD of armies. “So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

17 You have ^awearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “^bEveryone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He ^cdelights in them,” or, “^dWhere is the God of ^ejustice?”