Malachi 2
What Happens in This Chapter
God speaks to the priests and warns them that he will curse their blessings because they do not honor his name. He reminds them of his promise to Levi, whose family served as priests, and says these priests have turned from the right way and taught people wrongly. The chapter then turns to the people of Judah, who married women who worshiped other gods and were unfaithful to the wives they married when they were young. It ends with God saying their words have worn him out, because they claim that people who do evil are good in his eyes.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
1Now listen, priests. This order is for you. Priests were the men who served God at his temple.
2If 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.
2The LORD All-Powerful says this. Listen to me and honor my name with your whole heart. If you will not, I will send trouble on you. I will turn your good gifts into trouble. I have already begun, because you do not take this to heart.
3Behold, 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.
3Watch. I will stop the good that should come to your children. I will throw waste from your feast animals in your faces. You will be carried away with that waste.
The KJV word for "seed" here means a person's children and grandchildren, not seeds for planting. The "dung" is the waste from the animals brought as gifts at the feasts.
4And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
4Then you will know that I sent you this order. I sent it so my promise with Levi would go on. Levi's family were the priests. This is what the LORD All-Powerful says.
5My 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.
5My promise with Levi gave him life and peace. I gave those to him. In return he was to honor me. And he did honor me and stood in awe of my name.
6The 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.
6True teaching was in his mouth. Nothing false came from his lips. He walked with me in peace and did what was right. He turned many people away from doing wrong.
7For 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.
7A priest's lips should hold on to what is true. People should come to him to learn God's teaching. He is the messenger of the LORD All-Powerful.
8But 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.
8But you have turned away from the right path. Your teaching has made many people trip and fall. You have broken the promise made with Levi, says the LORD All-Powerful.
9Therefore 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.
9So I have made all the people look down on you. I did this because you have not walked in my ways. You gave special favors to some people when you taught my law.
10Have 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?
10Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God make us? Then why do we hurt and cheat each other? When we do, we spoil the promise our fathers made with God.
11Judah 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.
11The people of Judah have broken faith. Something hateful has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah has treated the LORD's holy place as common, the place he loved. And Judah's men have married women who worship other gods.
12The 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.
12The LORD will remove such a man from the homes of Jacob's family. That is true for the teacher and the student alike. It is true even if the man brings a gift to the LORD All-Powerful.
The Hebrew of this line is not clear. The KJV says "the master and the scholar," meaning teacher and student. Other translations read it as "everyone who is awake and aware." Either way, it means no one is left out.
13And 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.
13Here is one more thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with your tears. You weep and cry out loud. You do this because he no longer looks at your gifts or takes them gladly from your hands.
14Yet 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.
14Still you ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD watched what you did. He watched you and the wife you married when you were young. You broke your promise to her. She is your partner and your wife by promise.
15And 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.
15Did God not make a husband and wife one? They belong to him, body and breath. Why did he make them one? Because he wants children who follow him. So guard your own heart. Do not break faith with the wife you married when you were young.
16For 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.
16The LORD, the God of Israel, says, "I hate it when a man sends his wife away." The man who does this covers his clothes with cruelty, says the LORD All-Powerful. So guard your own heart. Do not break faith.
"Putting away" is the old English word for divorce, when a man sends his wife away and ends the marriage.
17Ye 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?
17You have worn the LORD out with your words. Yet you ask, "How have we worn him out?" You do it when you say, "Everyone who does evil is good in the LORD's eyes. He is pleased with them." You also do it when you ask, "Where is the God who judges?"
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