Malachi 2
17 verses
Malachi continues his indictment of the priesthood, declaring that if the priests do not listen and do not lay the commandments to heart, the Lord will send a curse upon them, turn their blessings into curses, and spread dung upon their faces. The prophet confronts the priests with the reminder that Levi was chosen to carry the ark and stand before the Lord to minister and bless in His name, that the priest's lips should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth—but instead the priests have corrupted the covenant of Levi through unfaithfulness. Malachi then turns to address the broader covenant community, condemning the people for divorcing the wives of their youth and taking foreign wives, asking how the Lord's altar can receive offerings with such infidelity. The prophet declares that the Lord is the witness between a man and the wife of his covenant, condemning divorce and marriage unfaithfulness as breaches of the covenant that violate the covenant made before the Lord. Malachi emphasizes that the Lord desires godly offspring and seeks a covenant community marked by faithfulness, genuine worship, and covenantal integrity rather than mechanical observance and pragmatic compromise. In redemptive history, Malachi's teaching on covenant faithfulness in marriage and religious devotion establishes that authentic covenant relationship encompasses the entirety of life—ritual and relational, public and private—and that God seeks a people genuinely devoted to His purposes.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
The imagery here is agricultural — the original audience would have immediately understood the metaphor of sowing, waiti...
1
And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
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2
If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
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God is faithful in every circumstance.. I love how this passage doesn't shy away from the difficulty of obedience. I thi...
3
Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
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God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. The imagery here is agricultural — the o...
4
And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
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5
My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
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6
The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
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7
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
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The Hebrew word used here carries a richness that English can't fully capture. God is faithful in every circumstance.. G...
8
But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
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Following God is costly, but the reward is eternal.. The contrast between human weakness and divine strength is so vivid...
9
Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
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10
Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
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11
Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
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God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. Reading the Psalms alongside this gives ...
12
The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts.
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13
And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
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14
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
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15
And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
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16
For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
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17
Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
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