3. “Behold, I will rebuke your descendantsAnd spread refuse on your faces,The refuse of your solemn feasts;And one will take you away with it.
4. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you,That My covenant with Levi may continue,”Says the Lord of hosts.
5. “My covenant was with him, one of life and peace,And I gave them to him that he might fear Me;So he feared MeAnd was reverent before My name.
6. The law of truth was in his mouth,And injustice was not found on his lips.He walked with Me in peace and equity,And turned many away from iniquity.
7. “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge,And people should seek the law from his mouth;For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8. But you have departed from the way;You have caused many to stumble at the law.You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,”Says the Lord of hosts.
9. “Therefore I also have made you contemptible and baseBefore all the people,Because you have not kept My waysBut have shown partiality in the law.”
10. Have we not all one Father?Has not one God created us?Why do we deal treacherously with one anotherBy profaning the covenant of the fathers?
11. Judah has dealt treacherously,And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,For Judah has profanedThe Lord’s holy institution which He loves:He has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12. May the Lord cut off from the tents of JacobThe man who does this, being awake and aware,Yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!
13. And this is the second thing you do:You cover the altar of the Lord with tears,With weeping and crying;So He does not regard the offering anymore,Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
14. Yet you say, “For what reason?”Because the Lord has been witnessBetween you and the wife of your youth,With whom you have dealt treacherously;Yet she is your companionAnd your wife by covenant.