And now, O
ye priests, this commandment is for you.
02 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it
to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the
Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you,
and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have
cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to
heart.
03 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread
dung upon your faces, even the dung of your
solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with
it.
04 And ye shall know that I have sent this
commandment unto you, that my covenant might be
with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
05 My covenant was with him of life and peace;
and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he
feared me, and was afraid before my name.
06 The law of truth was in his mouth, and
iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked
with me in peace and equity, and did turn many
away from iniquity.
07 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge,
and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he
is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
08 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 the Lord of
hosts.
09 Therefore have I also made you contemptible
and base before all the people, according as ye
have not kept my ways, but have been partial in
the law.
10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God
created us? why do we deal treacherously every
man against his brother, by profaning the
covenant of our fathers?
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11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an
abomination is committed in Israel and in
Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness
of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the
daughter of a strange god.
12 The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this,
the master and the scholar, out of the
tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an
offering unto the Lord of hosts.
13 And this have ye done again, covering the
altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and
with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not
the offering any more, or receiveth it with good
will at your hand.
14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath
been witness between thee and the wife of thy
youth, against whom thou hast dealt
treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the
wife of thy covenant.
15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the
residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he
might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to
your spirit, and let none deal treacherously
against the wife of his youth.
16 For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he
hateth putting away: for one covereth violence
with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts:
therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal
not treacherously.
17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet
ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say,
Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of
the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is
the God of judgment?
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