The Covenant Profaned by Judah
10 Have 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 faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob, for the man who does this, any to witness[f] or answer, or to bring an offering to the Lord of hosts!
13 And this again 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 at your hand. 14 You ask, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness to the covenant 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 Has not the one God made[g] and sustained for us the spirit of life?[h] And what does he desire? Godly offspring. So take heed to yourselves, and let none be faithless to the wife of his youth. 16 “For I hate[i] divorce, says the Lord the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless.”
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Every one who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
Footnotes
- Malachi 2:3 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb and he shall bear you to it
- Malachi 2:6 Or law
- Malachi 2:7 Or law
- Malachi 2:8 Or law
- Malachi 2:9 Or law
- Malachi 2:12 Cn Compare Gk: Heb arouse
- Malachi 2:15 Or has he not made one?
- Malachi 2:15 Cn: Heb and a remnant of spirit was his
- Malachi 2:16 Cn: Heb he hates