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1“Therefore, this decree is for you priests:[#Nah 1:14]
2If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heart to honor My name,” says Yahweh of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.[#Is 42:25; 57:1; Jr 12:11; #Dt 28:20; Pr 3:33; 28:27; Mal 3:9]
3“Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it.[#Hs 4:6-8; #Dung or entrails; #Ex 29:14; Lv 16:27]
4Then you will know that I sent you this decree so My covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord of Hosts.[#Nm 25:11-13; Dt 10:8; 33:8-11; Neh 13:29; Jr 33:17-22]
5“My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.[#1Sm 25:6; Pr 3:2; #Mal 1:6]
6True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and fairness and turned many from sin.[#Gn 5:22,24; 6:9; Mc 6:8; #Is 53:6; Jr 23:22; Ezk 3:19-20]
7For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.[#2Ch 36:15-16; Hg 1:13]
8“You, on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Hosts.[#Ex 32:8; Dt 31:29; Mal 3:7; #Pr 4:16; Is 8:14-15; Hs 14:1; #Lit corrupted]
9“So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in your instruction.”[#Mal 1:6-7; #Lv 19:15; Dt 10:17; Ps 82:2; Mt 22:16; 1Tm 5:21; Jms 2:1,9]
10Don’t all of us have one Father? Didn’t one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?[#Ex 4:22-23; Is 63:16; Hs 11:1; Mal 1:6; Jn 8:41; #Dt 32:6; Is 43:1-7; 64:8; #Ex 21:8; Jdg 9:23; Jb 6:15; Is 21:2; Jr 3:20; #Nm 30:2; Ps 55:20; 89:34; Mal 1:12; #1Kg 8:21]
11Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord ’s sanctuary, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.[#Lv 18:22-30; Ezr 9:1-14; Neh 13:4-9; #Jr 16:18; Ezk 44:7; #Or profaned what is holy to the Lord; #Ex 36:1-6; Zph 3:4; #Ps 78:68-69; #= a woman who worshiped a foreign god; #Dt 7:3-4; Ezr 9:1-2,10-14; Neh 13:23-30]
12To the man who does this, may the Lord cut off any descendants from the tents of Jacob, even if they present an offering to the Lord of Hosts.[#Ex 12:19; 31:14; #One Hb ms, LXX, DSS read off one witnessing or answering; #Lit off one waking or answering ; Hb obscure; #Ru 4:10; 1Sm 24:21]
13And this is another thing you do: you cover the Lord ’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.[#Ps 6:6-10; #1Kg 8:28-30; Is 56:7]
14Yet you ask, “For what reason? ” Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant.[#Gn 31:50-53; Jdg 11:10; 1Sm 12:5; #Pr 2:16-17; 5:18; Is 54:6; #Ec 4:10; #Ezk 16:8,59-62; Hs 2:16-20]
15Didn’t the one God make us with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth.[#Or Did the One not make them? So their flesh and spirit belong to Him, or No one who does this even has a remnant of the Spirit in him ; Hb obscure; #Lit So guard yourselves in your spirit; #Ex 23:13; Jos 23:11]
16“If he hates and divorces his wife, ” says the Lord God of Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,” says the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously.[#Gn 29:31; Dt 21:15-17; 22:13,16; Jdg 15:2; Pr 30:23; #Dt 24:1-4; #Or The Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce and the one who; #Gn 6:11,13; Ps 73:6; Jr 22:3; Hab 1:2-3; #Lit Therefore, guard yourselves in your spirit]
17You have wearied the Lord with your words.[#Is 43:22-24]
Yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him? ”
When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord ’s sight, and He is pleased with them,” or “Where is the God of justice? ”