| 1 | And now, ye priests, this commandment is for you. |
| 2 | If ye do not hear, and if ye do not lay [it] to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith Jehovah of hosts, I will even send the curse among you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have already cursed them, because ye do not lay [it] to heart. |
| 3 | Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, the dung of your feasts; and they shall take you away with it. |
| 4 | And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. |
| 5 | My covenant with him was of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear; and he feared me, and trembled before my name. |
| 6 | The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. |
| 7 | For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and at his mouth they seek the law; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts. |
| 8 | But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. |
| 9 | And I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, because ye have not kept my ways, but have respect of persons in [administering] the law. |
| 10 | Have we not all one father? Hath not one �God created us? Why do we deal unfaithfully every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? |
| 11 | Judah hath dealt unfaithfully, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the sanctuary of Jehovah which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange �god. |
| 12 | Jehovah will cut off from the tents of Jacob the man that doeth this, him that calleth and him that answereth; and him that offereth an oblation unto Jehovah of hosts. |
| 13 | And further ye do this: ye cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he regardeth not the oblation any more, nor receiveth [it] with satisfaction at your hand. |
| 14 | Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah hath been a witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt unfaithfully: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. |
| 15 | And did not one make [them]? and the remnant of the Spirit was his. And wherefore the one? He sought a seed of God. Take heed then to your spirit, and let none deal unfaithfully against the wife of his youth, |
| 16 | (for I hate putting away, saith Jehovah the God of Israel;) and he covereth with violence his garment, saith Jehovah of hosts: take heed then to your spirit, that ye deal not unfaithfully. |
| 17 | Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words, and ye say, Wherein have we wearied [him]? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment? |