Malachi 2

_1-2The Lord who rules over all says: ‘Priests, I told you to honour Me. I said if you do not listen to Me, I will curse you, and I will not bless you anymore. You did not obey Me. That is why I stopped blessing you. ₃You will have no more children and you will become impure. I will take the dung from the animals that you sacrifice to Me and I will throw it in your faces. People will carry you away and throw you onto the rubbish heaps and you will become impure. ₄Then you will know that it was I who sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi will not stop.’ This is what the Lord who rules over all says.

₅‘I made a covenant with Levi and I promised that he would live for many years and that all would be well with him. I did everything for him and he served Me and feared Me. ₆He told the people what I wanted them to do. He taught them in the right way. He did not tell them anything that was wrong. He lived near Me and he did what I wanted him to do. He helped many people to stop doing sin and bad things.

₇Yes, a priest must know what to say. He must tell people what is right and what is wrong, because he must bring them the message of the Lord who rules over all. ₈But you who are priests, you do not follow Me anymore. You have taught many people to do wrong and you have broken the covenant that I made with Levi.’ This is what the Lord who rules over all says.

₉‘I am now going to punish you. The people will not respect you anymore because you did not listen to Me. Some people did wrong but you said they had done right.’

₁₀We all have one Father. One God has made us all. Why don't people do what they have promised each other, and why do they break the covenant that God has made with our forefathers? ₁₁The people of Judah have been unfaithful. They have not done what they promised to do. They have done something very bad in the land_of_Israel and in Jerusalem. They made the temple of the Lord impure when the men married women who served gods of other nations. ₁₂The Lord will cut off everyone who does that. He will cut them off from his people, the Israelites, even the people who want to bring offerings to the Lord who rules over all.

₁₃There is something more that you do that is wrong: You stand at the altar of the Lord and you cry because He no longer wants your offerings. ₁₄And you ask: ‘Why doesn't the Lord want our offerings?’ He does not want them because He knows that you have not done what you promised your wives whom you married when you were young. Every man has made a marriage covenant with his wife and promised to be a good husband to her, but you have been unfaithful and you have broken your promises.

₁₅God has made you and your wife to be like one person, like one body and one spirit. He did this because He wants you to have children who serve Him. You made promises to your wives. Do not break those promises.

₁₆The Lord, the God of Israel, says He hates it when a man divorces his wife. The Lord who rules over all says He hates it when men are cruel to their wives. You must do what you have promised your wives.

₁₇The Lord is tired of listening to what you say. But you ask: ‘What did we say that made God tired?’

You made Him tired when you said: ‘The Lord loves people who are doing wrong,’ and when you asked: ‘Where is God who must make sure that people do right?’