1 “And now, O priests, this command is for you.
2 “If you do not hear, and if you do not take it to heart, to give esteem to My Name,” said יהוה of hosts, “I shall send a curse upon you, and I shall curse your blessings. And indeed, I have cursed them, because you do not take it to heart.
3 “See, I shall rebuke your seed, and scatter dung before your faces, the dung of your festivals. And you shall be taken away with it.
4 “And you shall know that I have sent this command to you, as being My covenant with Lĕwi,” said יהוה of hosts.
5 “My covenant with him was life and peace, and I gave them to him, to fear. And he feared Me, and stood in awe of My Name.
6 “The Torah of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and straightness, and turned many away from crookedness.
7 “For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and they seek the Torah from his mouth, for he is the messenger of יהוה of hosts.
8 “But you, you have turned from the way, you have caused many to stumble in the Torah. You have corrupted the covenant of Lĕwi,” said יהוה of hosts.
9 “And I also, I shall make you despised and low before all the people, because you are not guarding My ways, and are showing partiality in the Torah.”
10 Have we not all one Father? Did not one Ěl create us? Why do we act treacherously against one another, to profane the covenant of the fathers?
11 Yehuḏah has acted treacherously, and an abomination has been done in Yisra’ĕl and in Yerushalayim, for Yehuḏah has profaned what is set-apart to יהוה – which He had loved – and has married the daughter of a foreign mighty one.
12 Let יהוה cut off from the tents of Ya‛aqoḇ the man who does this – stirring up or answering, and bringing an offering to יהוה of hosts!
13 And this you have done a second time: you cover the altar of יהוה with tears, with weeping and crying, because He no longer regards the offering, nor receives it with pleasure from your hands.
14 And you said, “Why?” Because יהוה has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have acted treacherously, though she is your companion and the wife of your covenant.
15 And did He not make one? And He had the remnant of the Spirit? And what is the one alone? He seeks a seed of Elohim. So you shall guard your spirit, and let none act treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16 “For I hate divorce,” said יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “and the one who covers his garment with cruelty,” said יהוה of hosts. “So you shall guard your spirit, and do not act treacherously.”
17 You have wearied יהוה with your words, and you have said, “In what way have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of יהוה, and He is delighting in them,” or, “Where is the Elohim of right-ruling?”