Dual Panel1And now, you priests, this decree is for you:
2unless you listen to me and pay heed to the honouring of my name, says the LORD of Hosts, I shall lay a curse on you. I shall turn your blessings into a curse; yes, into a curse, because you pay no heed.
3I shall cut off your arms, fling offal in your faces, the offal from your pilgrim-feasts, and I shall banish you from my presence.
4Then you will know that I have issued this decree against you: my covenant with Levi falls, says the LORD of Hosts.
5My covenant was with him: I bestowed life and welfare on him, and laid on him the duty of reverence; he revered me and lived in awe of my name.
6The instruction he gave was true, and no word of injustice fell from his lips; he walked in harmony with me and in uprightness, and he turned many back from sin.
7For men hang on the words of the priest and seek knowledge and instruction from him, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
8But you have turned aside from that course; you have caused many to stumble with your instruction; you have set at naught the covenant with the Levites, says the LORD of Hosts.
9So I in my turn shall make you despicable and degraded in the eyes of all the people, inasmuch as you disregard my ways and show partiality in your interpretation of the law.
10Have we not all one father? Did not one God create us? Why then are we faithless to one another by violating the covenant of our forefathers?
11Judah is faithless, and abominable things are done in Israel and in Jerusalem; in marrying the daughter of a foreign god, Judah has violated the sacred place loved by the LORD.
12May the LORD banish from the dwellings of Jacob any who do this, whether nomads or settlers, even though they bring offerings to the LORD of Hosts.
13Here is another thing you do: you weep and moan, drowning the LORD's altar with tears, but he still refuses to look at the offering or receive favourably a gift from you.
14You ask why. It is because the LORD has borne witness against you on behalf of the wife of your youth. You have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, your wife by solemn covenant.
15Did not the one God make her, both flesh and spirit? And what does the one God require but godly children? Keep watch on your spirit, and let none of you be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
16If a man divorces or puts away his wife, says the LORD God of Israel, he overwhelms her with cruelty, says the LORD of Hosts. Keep watch on your spirit, and do not be unfaithful.
17You have wearied the LORD with your talk. You ask, “How have we wearied him?” By saying that all evildoers are good in the eyes of the LORD, that he is pleased with them, or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”