Mal'akhi (Mal) 2
2
1“Now, cohanim, this command is for you.
2If you won’t listen, if you won’t pay attention
to honoring my name,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot,
“then I will send the curse on you;
I will turn your blessings into curses.
Yes, I will curse them,
because you pay no attention.
3I will reject your seed;
I will throw dung in your faces,
the dung from your festival offerings;
and you will be carted off with it.
4Then you will know that I sent you this command
to affirm my covenant with Levi,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
5“My covenant with him was one of life and peace,
and I gave him these things.
It was also one of fear, and he feared me;
he was in awe of my name.
6The true Torah was in his mouth,
and no dishonesty was found on his lips;
he walked with me in peace and uprightness
and turned many away from sin.
7A cohen’s lips should safeguard knowledge,
and people should seek Torah from his mouth,
because he is the messenger
of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
8But you turned away from the path,
you caused many to fail in the Torah,
you corrupted the covenant of Levi,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
9“Therefore I have in turn made you
contemptible and vile before all the people,
because you did not keep my ways
but were partial in applying the Torah.”
10Don’t we all have the same father?
Didn’t one God create us all?
Then why do we break faith with each other,
profaning the covenant of our ancestors?
11Y’hudah has broken faith;
an abomination has been committed
in Isra’el and Yerushalayim.
For Y’hudah has profaned the sanctuary
of Adonai, which he loves,
by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.
12If a man does this and presents an offering
to Adonai-Tzva’ot, may Adonai cut him off
from the tents of Ya‘akov,
whether initiator or follower.
13Here is something else you do:
you cover Adonai’s altar with tears,
with weeping and with sighing,
because he no longer looks at the offering
or receives your gift with favor.
14Nevertheless, you ask, “Why is this?”
Because Adonai is witness
between you and the wife of your youth
that you have broken faith with her,
though she is your companion, your wife by covenant.
15And hasn’t he made [them] one [flesh]
in order to have spiritual blood-relatives?
For what the one [flesh] seeks
is a seed from God.
Therefore, take heed to your spirit,
and don’t break faith with the wife of your youth.
16“For I hate divorce,”
says Adonai the God of Isra’el,
“and him who covers his clothing with violence,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
and don’t break faith.
17You have wearied Adonai with your words.
Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?”
By saying that anyone who does wrong
is good from Adonai’s perspective,
and that he is delighted with them;
or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
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Mal'akhi (Mal) 2: CJB
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Learn More About Complete Jewish BibleMalachi 2
2
1The LORD Almighty says to the priests, “This command is for you: 2You must honour me by what you do. If you will not listen to what I say, then I will bring a curse on you. I will put a curse on the things you receive for your support. In fact, I have already put a curse on them, because you do not take my command seriously. 3I will punish your children and rub your faces in the dung of the animals you sacrifice — and you will be taken out to the dunghill. 4#Num 3.11–13Then you will know that I have given you this command, so that my covenant with the priests, the descendants of Levi, will not be broken.
5 #
Num 25.12
“In my covenant I promised them life and well-being, and this is what I gave them, so that they might respect me. In those days they did respect and fear me. 6They taught what was right, not what was wrong. They lived in harmony with me; they not only did what was right themselves, but they also helped many others to stop doing evil. 7It is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn my will, because they are the messengers of the LORD Almighty.
8“But now you priests have turned away from the right path. Your teaching has led many to do wrong. You have broken the covenant I made with you. 9So I, in turn, will make the people of Israel despise you because you do not obey my will, and when you teach my people, you do not treat everyone alike.”
The People's Unfaithfulness to God
10Don't we all have the same father? Didn't the same God create us all? Then why do we break our promises to one another, and why do we despise the covenant that God made with our ancestors? 11The people of Judah have broken their promise to God and done a horrible thing in Jerusalem and all over the country. They have defiled the Temple which the LORD loves. Men have married women who worship foreign gods. 12May the LORD remove from the community of Israel those who did this, and never again let them participate in the offerings our nation brings to the LORD Almighty.#2.12 One ancient translation May… Almighty; Hebrew unclear.
13This is another thing you do. You drown the LORD's altar with tears, weeping and wailing because he no longer accepts the offerings you bring him. 14You ask why he no longer accepts them. It is because he knows you have broken your promise to the wife you married when you were young. She was your partner, and you have broken your promise to her, although you promised before God that you would be faithful to her. 15Didn't God make you one body and spirit with her?#2.15 Probable text Didn't God… her; Hebrew unclear. What was his purpose in this? It was that you should have children who are truly God's people. So make sure that none of you breaks his promise to his wife. 16“I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel. “I hate it when one of you does such a cruel thing to his wife. Make sure that you do not break your promise to be faithful to your wife.”
The Day of Judgement is Near
17You have tired the LORD out with your talk. But you ask, “How have we tired him?” By saying, “The LORD Almighty thinks all evildoers are good; in fact he likes them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God who is supposed to be just?”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.