The Lord Rebukes the Priests
1 “And now, qO priests, this command is for you. 2 rIf you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, sI have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring,1 and spread dung on your faces, the tdung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.2 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my ucovenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was one of life and vpeace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 6 wTrue instruction3 was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7 For the xlips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people4 should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have yturned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but zshow partiality in your instruction.”
Judah Profaned the Covenant
10 aHave we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been bfaithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has cmarried the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant5 of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!
13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them done, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?6 And what was the one God7 seeking?8 Godly offspring. So guard yourselves9 in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but edivorces her,10 says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers11 his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”
The Messenger of the Lord
17 You have fwearied the Lord with your gwords. hBut you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, i“Where is the God of justice?”
1 j“Behold, I send my messenger, and khe will lprepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But mwho can endure the day of his coming, and nwho can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them olike gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.12 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the psorcerers, against the qadulterers, against those who rswear falsely, against those who soppress the hired worker in his wages, the twidow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the usojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
The Temptation of Jesus
1 yThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the zwilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after afasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the bSon of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
c“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
dbut by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
e“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
f“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, g‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a hvery high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you iwill fall down and jworship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
k“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, langels came and were ministering to him.
