1 A nd now, O you priests, this commandment is for you.

And now, to you this charge, O priests,

2 I f you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to My name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yes, I have already turned them to curses because you do not lay it to heart.

If ye hearken not, and if ye lay not to heart, To give honour to My name, said Jehovah of Hosts, I have sent against you the curse, And I have cursed your blessings, Yea, I have also cursed it, Because ye are not laying to heart.

3 B ehold, I will rebuke your seed, and I will spread the dung from the festival offerings upon your faces, and you shall be taken away with it.

Lo, I am pushing away before you the seed, And have scattered dung before your faces, Dung of your festivals, And it hath taken you away with it.

4 A nd you shall know, recognize, and understand that I have sent this decree to you priests, to be My covenant with Levi, says the Lord of hosts.

And ye have known that I have sent unto you this charge, For My covenant being with Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

5 M y covenant was to give him life and peace, because of the fear with which would revere Me and stand in awe of My name.

My covenant hath been with him of life and of peace, And I make them to him a fear, and he doth fear Me, And because of My name he hath been affrighted.

6 T he law of truth was in mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from iniquity.

The law of truth hath been in his mouth, And perverseness hath not been found in his lips, In peace and in uprightness he walked with Me, And many he brought back from iniquity.

7 F or the priest’s lips should guard and keep pure the knowledge, and the people should seek (inquire for and require) instruction at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

For the lips of a priest preserve knowledge, And law they do seek from his mouth, For a messenger of Jehovah of Hosts he.

8 B ut you have turned aside out of the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts.

And ye, ye have turned from the way, Ye have caused many to stumble in the law, Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

9 T herefore have I also made you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept My ways but have shown favoritism to persons in your administration of the law.

And I also, I have made you despised and low before all the people, Because ye are not keeping My ways, And are accepting persons in the law.

10 H ave we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then do we deal faithlessly and treacherously each against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Have we not all one father? Hath not our God prepared us? Wherefore do we deal treacherously, Each against his brother, To pollute the covenant of our fathers?

11 J udah has been faithless and dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holy sanctuary of the Lord which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

Dealt treacherously hath Judah, And abomination hath been done in Israel, and in Jerusalem, For polluted hath Judah the holy thing of Jehovah, That He hath loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

12 T he Lord will cast out of the tents of Jacob to the last man those who do this, the master and the servant alike, even him who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts.

Cut off doth Jehovah the man who doth it, Tempter and tempted -- from the tents of Jacob, Even he who is bringing nigh a present to Jehovah of Hosts.

13 A nd this you do with double guilt; you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, and with weeping and crying out because the Lord does not regard your offering any more or accept it with favor at your hand.

And this a second time ye do, Covering with tears the altar of Jehovah, With weeping and groaning, Because there is no more turning unto the present, Or receiving of a pleasing thing from your hand.

14 Y et you ask, Why does He reject it? Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously and to whom you were faithless. Yet she is your companion and the wife of your covenant.

And ye have said, `Wherefore?' Because Jehovah hath testified between thee And the wife of thy youth, That thou hast dealt treacherously against her, And she thy companion, and thy covenant-wife.

15 A nd did not God make one ? Did not One make you and preserve your spirit alive? And why one? Because He sought a godly offspring. Therefore take heed to yourselves, and let no one deal treacherously and be faithless to the wife of his youth.

And He did not make one, And He hath the remnant of the Spirit. And what the one! He is seeking a godly seed. And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And with the wife of thy youth, None doth deal treacherously.

16 F or the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I hate divorce and marital separation and him who covers his garment with violence. Therefore keep a watch upon your spirit, that you deal not treacherously and faithlessly.

For hate sending away, said Jehovah, God of Israel, And He hath covered violence with his clothing, said Jehovah of Hosts, And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And ye do not deal treacherously.

17 Y ou have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, In what way have we wearied Him? you say, Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and He delights in them. Or, Where is the God of justice?

Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words, And ye have said: `In what have we wearied Him?' In your saying: `Every evil-doer good in the eyes of Jehovah, And in them He is delighting,' Or, `Where the God of judgment?'