Dual Panel1"Listen, you priests; this command is for you!
2Listen to me and take it to heart. Honor my name," says the LORD Almighty, "or I will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken my warning seriously.
3I will rebuke your descendants and splatter your faces with the dung of your festival sacrifices, and I will add you to the dung heap.
4Then at last you will know it was I who sent you this warning so that my covenant with the Levites may continue," says the LORD Almighty.
5"The purpose of my covenant with the Levites was to bring life and peace, and this is what I gave them. This called for reverence from them, and they greatly revered me and stood in awe of my name.
6They passed on to the people all the truth they received from me. They did not lie or cheat; they walked with me, living good and righteous lives, and they turned many from lives of sin.
7The priests’ lips should guard knowledge, and people should go to them for instruction, for the priests are the messengers of the LORD Almighty.
8But not you! You have left God’s paths. Your ‘guidance’ has caused many to stumble into sin. You have corrupted the covenant I made with the Levites," says the LORD Almighty.
9"So I have made you despised and humiliated in the eyes of all the people. For you have not obeyed me but have shown partiality in your interpretation of the law."
10Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why are we faithless to each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?
11In Judah, in Israel, and in Jerusalem there is treachery, for the men of Judah have defiled the LORD’s beloved sanctuary by marrying women who worship idols.
12May the LORD cut off from the nation of Israel every last man who has done this and yet brings an offering to the LORD Almighty.
13Here is another thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings, and he doesn’t accept them with pleasure.
14You cry out, "Why has the LORD abandoned us?" I’ll tell you why! Because the LORD witnessed the vows you and your wife made to each other on your wedding day when you were young. But you have been disloyal to her, though she remained your faithful companion, the wife of your marriage vows.
15Didn’t the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard yourself; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.
16"For I hate divorce!" says the LORD, the God of Israel. "It is as cruel as putting on a victim’s bloodstained coat," says the LORD Almighty. "So guard yourself; always remain loyal to your wife."
17You have wearied the LORD with your words. "Wearied him?" you ask. "How have we wearied him?" You have wearied him by suggesting that the LORD favors evildoers since he does not punish them. You have wearied him by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"