{"book":"Malachi","slug":"malachi","ch":2,"genre":"prose","sub":"Malachi","prev":"malachi/1","next":"malachi/3","verses":[{"v":1,"t":"[“] And now this decree is for you, O priests:","f":[],"h":"A Warning to the Priests","style":"reg"},{"v":2,"t":"If you do not listen, and if you do not take [it] to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts,“ I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.","f":[],"style":"reg"},{"v":3,"t":"Behold, I will rebuke your descendants, and I will spread dung on your faces, the waste from your feasts, and you will be carried off with it.","f":["Or I will blight your grain"],"style":"reg"},{"v":4,"t":"Then you will know that I have sent you this commandment so that My covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD of Hosts.","f":[],"style":"reg"},{"v":5,"t":"“ My covenant with him was [one] of life and peace, which I gave to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.","f":[]},{"v":6,"t":"True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.","f":[],"style":"reg"},{"v":7,"t":"For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.","f":[]},{"v":8,"t":"But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of Hosts.","f":[],"style":"indent1"},{"v":9,"t":"“ So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not kept My ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”","f":[]},{"v":10,"t":"Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?","f":[],"h":"Judah’s Unfaithfulness","style":"indent1stline"},{"v":11,"t":"Judah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the LORD’s beloved sanctuary by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.","f":[],"style":"reg"},{"v":12,"t":"[As] for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob [everyone who is] awake and aware — even if he brings an offering to the LORD of Hosts.","f":[]},{"v":13,"t":"And this is another thing you do: You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer regards your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.","f":[],"style":"reg"},{"v":14,"t":"Yet you ask,“ Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.","f":[],"lines":[{"style":"reg","t":"Yet you ask,“ Why?”"},{"style":"reg","t":"It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant."}],"style":"reg"},{"v":15,"t":"Has not [the LORD] made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.","f":[],"style":"reg"},{"v":16,"t":"“ For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel.“ He [who divorces his wife] covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith.","f":["Or “For the man who hates his wife and divorces her,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “covers his garment with violence,”"],"style":"indent1"},{"v":17,"t":"You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask,“ How have we wearied Him?” By saying,“ All who do evil [are] good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or,“ Where is the God of justice?”","f":[],"lines":[{"style":"indent1stline","t":"You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask,“ How have we wearied Him?”"},{"style":"reg","t":"By saying,“ All who do evil [are] good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or,“ Where is the God of justice?”"}],"style":"indent1stline"}]}