Malachi 2
Israel's Unfaithfulness
Rebuked |
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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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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4 |
And ye shall know that I have sent this
commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, Num.
3.11-13 saith the LORD of
hosts.
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5 |
My covenant was with him of life and
peace; Num. 25.12 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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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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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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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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The Near Approach of
the Day of Judgment |
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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