Malachi 2:1-3:5

English Standard Version

The Lord Rebukes the Priests

2 “And now, ^(A)O priests, ^(B)this command is for you. ^2 (C)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 ^(D)the curse upon you and I will curse ^(E)your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. ³ Behold, ^(F)I will rebuke your offspring,^[a] and ^(G)spread dung on your faces, the ^(H)dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.^{[b] 4} So shall you know that I have sent ^(I)this command to you, that ^(J)my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. ⁵ My covenant with him was one of life and ^(K)peace, and I gave them to him. ^(L)It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. ^6 (M)True instruction^[c] was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he ^(N)turned many from iniquity. ⁷ For ^(O)the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people^[d] should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. ⁸ But you have turned aside from the way. ^(P)You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted ^(Q)the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, ⁹ and so ^(R)I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but ^(S)show partiality in your instruction.”

Judah Profaned the Covenant

¹⁰ Have we not all ^(T)one Father? Has not ^(U)one God created us? Why then are we ^(V)faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? ¹¹ Judah has been ^(W)faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For ^(X)Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. ¹² May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant^[e] of the man who does this, who ^(Y)brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

¹³ And this second thing you do. ^(Z)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. ^14 (AA)But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord ^(AB)was witness between you and the wife of your youth, ^(AC)to whom ^(AD)you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. ^15 (AE)Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?^[f] And what was the one God^[g] seeking?^{[h] (AF)}Godly offspring. So guard yourselves^[i] in your spirit, and let none of you be ^(AG)faithless to the wife of your youth. ¹⁶ “For ^(AH)the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,^[j] says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers^[k] his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and ^(AI)do not be faithless.”

The Messenger of the Lord

^17 (AJ)You have wearied the Lord with your words. ^(AK)But you say, “How have we wearied him?” ^(AL)By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, ^(AM)“Where is the God of justice?”

3 ^(AN)“Behold, I send ^(AO)my messenger, and ^(AP)he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord ^(AQ)whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and ^(AR)the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ² But ^(AS)who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For ^(AT)he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. ³ He will sit ^(AU)as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring ^(AV)offerings in righteousness to the Lord.^{[l] 4 (AW)}Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be ^(AX)a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those ^(AY)who oppress the hired worker in his wages, ^(AZ)the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.