I Will Curse Your Blessings

1“And now this commandment is for you, O priests. 2If you do not listen, and if you do not set it upon your heart to give [†]honor to My name,” says Yahweh of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already because you are not setting it upon your heart. 3Behold, I am going to rebuke your seed, and I will spread [†]refuse on your faces, the [†]refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away [†]with it. 4Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, [†]that My covenant may [†]continue with Levi,” says Yahweh of hosts. 5“My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as something to be [†]feared; so he feared Me and stood in [†]awe of My name. 6[†]Instruction of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity. 7For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and [†]men should seek [†]instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts. 8But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble [†]by the instruction; you have [†]corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of hosts. 9“So I also have made you despised and low [†]before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the [†]instruction.

Judah Profaned the Covenant

10“Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? 11Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of Yahweh [†]which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12As for the man who does this, may Yahweh cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers or who presents [†]an offering to Yahweh of hosts.

13“And this is a second thing you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with groaning because He no longer regards the [†]offering or receives it as acceptable from your hand. 14But you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because Yahweh has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15[†]But not one has done so, even one who has a remnant of the Spirit. And [†]what did that one do while he was seeking a godly seed? Be careful then to keep your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. 16For [†]I hate [†]divorce,” says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and [†]him who covers his garment with [†]wrong,” says Yahweh of hosts. “Be careful then to keep your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

17You have wearied Yahweh with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of Yahweh, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”