And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith Jehovah of hosts, then will I send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
Behold, I will rebuke {Or, as otherwise read, your arm}your seed, and will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and ye shall be taken away {Or, unto}with it.
And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant may be with Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts.
My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might fear; and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name.
The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts.
But ye are turned aside out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble in the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts.
Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have had respect of persons in the law.
Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the {Or, sanctuary}holiness of Jehovah which he loveth, and hath married the daughter of a foreign god.
Jehovah will cut off, to the man that doeth this, him that waketh and him that answereth, out of the tents of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto Jehovah of hosts.
And this {Or, a second time}again ye do: ye cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, neither receiveth it with good will at your hand.
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
{Or, And not one hath done so who had a residue of the spirit. Or what? is there one that seeketh a godly seed?}And did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? And wherefore one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
For {Hebrew: he hateth.}I hate putting away, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, and him that covereth his garment with violence, saith Jehovah of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them; or where is the God of justice?
Querverweise zu Maleachi 2,6 Mal 2,6
The mouth of the righteous talketh of wisdom,And his tongue speaketh justice.
And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, and {Or, blameless}perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God.
And {Or, the teachers}they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
And in a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to mine ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am {Hebrew: El Shaddai.}God Almighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
And many of the children of Israel shall he turn unto the Lord their God.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, {According to another reading, I have rejected.}I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
And he shall {Some ancient authorities read come nigh before his face.}go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.
And they send to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any one: for thou regardest not the person of men.
to open their eyes, {Or, to turn them}that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me.
And when they were come, they say unto him, Teacher, we know that thou art true, and carest not for any one; for thou regardest not the person of men, but of a truth teachest the way of God: Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not?
For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God,
And they asked him, saying, Teacher, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, and acceptest not the person of any, but of a truth teachest the way of God:
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come.
Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, {Or, holding a straight course in the word of truth Or, rightly dividing the word of truth}handling aright the word of truth.
My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him;
But shun profane babblings: for they will proceed further in ungodliness,
{Some ancient authorities read know ye.}let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.
For the {Or, overseer}bishop must be blameless, as God's steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, {Or, not quarrelsome over wine.}no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;
but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled;
holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the {Greek: healthful.}sound {Or, teaching}doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers.
And in their mouth was found no lie: they are without blemish.