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 2,8 Mal 2,8
For I have kept the ways of Jehovah,And have not wickedly departed from my God.
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.
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.
I have not turned aside from thine ordinances;For thou hast taught me.
And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah; for the men despised the offering of Jehovah.
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?
get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Nay, my sons; for it is no good report {Or, which I hear Jehovah's people do spread abroad}that I hear: ye make Jehovah's people to transgress.
And he shall not profane his seed among his people: for I am Jehovah who sanctifieth him.
transgressing and denying Jehovah, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
Therefore Jehovah, the God of Israel, saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now Jehovah saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
Remember them, O my God, {Hebrew: for the defilings of &c.}because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.
Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah.
For they that lead this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are {Hebrew: swallowed up.}destroyed.
O Jehovah, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be put to shame. They that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters.
For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up;
But the Levites that went far from me, when Israel went astray, that went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.
for both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith Jehovah.
Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, {Or, in the year}even the year of their visitation, saith Jehovah.
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of {Or, poison}gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy precepts and from thine ordinances;
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
And he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?
For God said, {Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16.}Honor thy father and thy mother: and, {Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9.}He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him {Or, surely die}die the death.
But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is given to God;
neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
And one of the lawyers answering saith unto him, Teacher, in saying this thou reproachest us also.
Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God:
And he said, Woe unto you lawyers also! for ye load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness,
a {Or, an instructor}corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth;
thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples?
thou who gloriest in the law, through thy transgression of the law dishonorest thou God?
For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, {Isaiah 52:5.}even as it is written.
It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth {Many ancient authorities add or is offended, or is weak.}.