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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Malachi 2 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/malachi/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/malachi/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Malachi 2</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../malachi/1.htm" title="Malachi 1">◄</a> Malachi 2 <a href="../malachi/3.htm" title="Malachi 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/malachi/2.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">A Warning to the Priests</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>“Listen, you priests—this command is for you! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>Listen to me and make up your minds to honor my name,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “or I will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken my warning to heart. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>I will punish your descendants and splatter your faces with the manure from your festival sacrifices, and I will throw you on the manure pile. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Then at last you will know it was I who sent you this warning so that my covenant with the Levites can continue,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>“The purpose of my covenant with the Levites was to bring life and peace, and that is what I gave them. This required reverence from them, and they greatly revered me and stood in awe of my name. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>They passed on to the people the truth of the instructions they received from me. They did not lie or cheat; they walked with me, living good and righteous lives, and they turned many from lives of sin.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>“The words of a priest’s lips should preserve knowledge of God, and people should go to him for instruction, for the priest is the messenger of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>But you priests have left God’s paths. Your instructions have caused many to stumble into sin. You have corrupted the covenant I made with the Levites,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>“So I have made you despised and humiliated in the eyes of all the people. For you have not obeyed me but have shown favoritism in the way you carry out my instructions.”</p><p class="hdg">A Call to Faithfulness</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Judah has been unfaithful, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. The men of Judah have defiled the LORD’s beloved sanctuary by marrying women who worship idols. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>May the LORD cut off from the nation of Israel<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> every last man who has done this and yet brings an offering to the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Here is another thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t accept them with pleasure. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>You cry out, “Why doesn’t the LORD accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the LORD witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Didn’t the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>“For I hate divorce!”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> says the LORD, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a>” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/malachi/2-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>You have wearied the LORD with your words.</p><p class="reg">“How have we wearied him?” you ask.</p><p class="reg">You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the LORD’s sight, and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">2:12 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">from the tents of Jacob.</span><span class="ft"> The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">2:15 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">Didn’t the one </span><span class="sc"><span class="it">Lord</span></span><span class="it"> make us and preserve our life and breath?</span><span class="ft"> or </span><span class="it">Didn’t the one </span><span class="sc"><span class="it">Lord</span></span><span class="it"> make her, both flesh and spirit?</span><span class="ft"> The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">2:16a </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">For he hates divorcing.</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">2:16b </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">to cover one’s garment with violence.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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