¹But now, this command is for you, priests:

²If you don’t listen,

³I am about to denounce your offspring;

Then I will lift you up to me,

⁴and you will know that I have sent this command to you

⁵My covenant with him involved life and peace, which I gave him,

⁶True Instruction was in his mouth;

He walked with me in peace and did the right thing;

⁷The lips of the priest should guard knowledge;

⁸But you have turned from the path.

⁹Moreover, I have made you despised and humiliated in the view of all the people,

Judah’s dishonesty

¹⁰Isn’t there one father for all of us,

one God who created us?

Why does everyone cheat each other

to make the covenant

¹¹Judah cheated—

Judah made the LORD ’s holy place impure, which God loved,

¹²May the LORD eliminate anyone who does so from the tents of Jacob,

¹³You should do this as well:

¹⁴But you say, “Why?”

Because the LORD testifies about you

She is your partner,

¹⁵Didn’t he make her the one[#2.15 Heb lacks; #2.15 Heb uncertain; her refers to the wife in Mal 2:14.]

and the remnant of his spirit?

What is the one?

You should guard your own spirit.

Don’t cheat on the wife of your youth

Purifying judgment

¹⁷You have made the LORD tired with your words.

You say, “How have we made him tired?”

When you say: