Malachi 2

¹ And now, priests, this warning is for you.

² If you do not listen, if you do not find it in your heart to glorify my name, says Yahweh Sabaoth, I will send the curse on you and curse your very blessing.[*a] Indeed I have already cursed it, since there is not a single one of you who takes this to heart.

³ Now watch how I am going to paralyse your arm and throw dung in your face – the dung from your very solemnities – and sweep you away with it.

⁴ Then you shall learn that it is I who have given you this warning of my intention to abolish my covenant with Levi, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

⁵ My covenant was with him: it stood for life and peace, and these were what I gave him; it stood for fear and trembling, and he respected me and stood in awe of my name.

⁶ The teaching of truth was in his mouth, falsehood was not to be found on his lips; he walked with me in integrity and virtue; he converted many from sinning.

⁷ The lips of the priest ought to safeguard knowledge; his mouth is where instruction should be sought, since he is the messenger of Yahweh Sabaoth.

⁸ But you, you have strayed from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your teaching. You have destroyed the covenant of Levi, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

⁹ And so I in my turn have made you contemptible and vile in the eyes of the whole people in repayment for the way you have not kept to my paths but have shown partiality in your administration.

¹⁰ Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why, then, do we break faith with one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?

¹¹ Judah has broken faith: a detestable thing has been done (in Israel and) in Jerusalem. Yes, Judah has profaned the sanctuary that Yahweh loves. He has married the daughter of an alien god.

¹² The man who does this – whoever he be – may Yahweh cut him off from the tents of Jacob and from the company of those who present the offering to Yahweh Sabaoth.

¹³ And here is something else you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping and wailing, because he now refuses to consider the offering or to accept it from your hands.

¹⁴ And you ask, ‘Why?’ It is because Yahweh stands as witness between you and the wife of your youth, the wife with whom you have broken faith, even though she was your partner and your wife by covenant.

¹⁵ Did he not create a single being that has flesh and the breath of life? And what is this single being destined for? God-given offspring. Be careful for your own life, therefore, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

¹⁶ For I hate divorce, says Yahweh the God of Israel, and I hate people to parade their sins on their cloaks, says Yahweh Sabaoth. Respect your own life, therefore, and do not break faith like this.

¹⁷ You weary Yahweh with your talk. You ask, ‘How do we weary him?’ When you say, ‘Any evil-doer is good as far as Yahweh is concerned; indeed he likes them best’; or when you say, ‘Where is the God of justice now?’