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Malachi 2 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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The Lord Rebukes the Priests

Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:1 - “And now, O priests, this command is for you.
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:2 - If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:3 - Behold, I will rebuke your offspring,[fn] and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:4 - So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts.
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:5 - My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:6 - True instruction[fn] was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:7 - For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people[fn] should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:8 - But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts,
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:9 - and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

Judah Profaned the Covenant

Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:10 - Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:11 - Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:12 - May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant[fn] of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:13 - And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:14 - But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:15 - Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?[fn] And what was the one God[fn] seeking?[fn] Godly offspring. So guard yourselves[fn] in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:16 - “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,[fn] says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers[fn] his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

The Messenger of the Lord

Unchecked Copy BoxMal 2:17 - You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew seed
Or to it
Or law; also verses 7, 8, 9
Hebrew they
Hebrew any who wakes and answers
Hebrew in it
Hebrew the one
Or And not one has done this who has a portion of the Spirit. And what was that one seeking?
Or So take care; also verse 16
Hebrew who hates and divorces
Probable meaning (compare Septuagint and Deuteronomy 24:1–4); or “The LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates divorce, and him who covers
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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