1 Now, O priests{kohanim: ministering ones}, this commandment{mitzvah: binding instruction} is directed to you.
2 If you refuse to heed this warning and do not impress it upon your heart {lev: inner will} to give honor to My name, the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Commander of Armies} declares that I will send a curse among you and curse your blessings; indeed, I have already done so because you do not impress it upon your heart.
3 Behold, I {YHWH, Judicial Rebuker} will rebuke your offspring {zera‘: descendants}, and I will throw dung upon your faces—the dung of your feasts—and you will be carried away with it.
4 Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, so that My covenant may continue with Levi {Levi: priestly tribe}, says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot: Divine Commander}.
5 My covenant{berit: binding agreement} was with him—life and peace—and I gave them to him along with reverence; he feared Me{YHWH, Covenant Guardian} and stood in awe before My name.
6 Instruction of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity {avon: moral corruption} was not found on his lips; in peace and uprightness he walked with Me {YHWH: Steadfast Companion}, and he turned many from iniquity.
7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge {daat: wise discernment}, and the people should seek the law from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts {YHWH-tsevaot, Commander of Armies}.
8 But you have turned away from the way; you have led many to stumble in the law {torah: covenant instruction}; you have ruined the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Divine Commander}.
9 And I {YHWH, Covenant Judge} have also made you despised and brought low before all the people because you are not keeping My ways and are showing partiality {panim: favoring some} in the law.
10 Do we not all share one Father? Has not one God {El, Universal Creator} created us? Why does each man act treacherously against his brother, profaning the covenant {berit: sacred agreement} of our fathers?
11 Judah has acted treacherously, and an abomination has occurred in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary {qodesh: what is holy} of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Defender}, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Enforcer} cut off from the tents {ohelot: dwellings} of Jacob any man who does this—whether awake or answering—and even the one presenting an offering to the LORD of hosts.
13 And this is the second thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} with tears, with weeping and with crying out, because He no longer turns to the offering {minchah: grain offering} or receives it with favor from your hand.
14 But you say, “Why?” Because the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have acted treacherously, though she is your companion {chaveret: covenant partner} and the wife of your covenant.
15 And did He not make one, while a remnant of the spirit was His? And what does the one seek? Offspring {zera: future generations} of God {Elohim, Faithful Originator}. Therefore guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.
16 “For the man who hates and divorces,” says the LORD {YHWH, Protector of Covenant}, the God of Israel; “and he covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tzevaot, Upholding Justice}. Then you shall guard your spirit and refrain from treachery.
17 You have wearied the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} with your words. Yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” You claim, “All who commit wrongdoing are counted good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or you demand, “Where is the God of justice {mishpat: legal standard}?”