A Warning to the Priests
“And now this decree is for you, O priests: Hos 5:1Jer 13:13Mal 1:6Lam 4:13
If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart. Luk 17:18Rev 14:7Psa 69:22Psa 81:11-121Pe 4:11Lev 26:14-46Mal 3:9Deu 28:15-68
Behold, I will rebuke your descendants, 1 and I will spread dung on your faces, the waste from your feasts, and you will be carried off with it. Nam 3:6Mal 2:91Ki 14:10Exo 29:14Job 20:7Jol 1:171Co 4:131Sa 2:29-30
Then you will know that I have sent you this commandment so that My covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD of Hosts. Num 3:12Ezk 38:23Ezk 44:9-16Jer 28:9Jhn 15:2Luk 10:11Mat 3:12Neh 13:29 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, which I gave to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. Ezk 37:26Num 25:12-13Ezk 34:25Exo 32:26-29Num 16:9-10Deu 33:8-11Num 18:8-24Num 3:45
True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. Dan 12:32Ti 2:15-16Rev 14:5Jer 23:22Act 26:18Jas 5:19-20Luk 1:16-17Luk 1:6 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts. 2Ti 2:24-25Lev 10:11Deu 21:52Co 5:201Th 4:8Act 16:17Ezr 7:10Jhn 13:20
But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of Hosts. Neh 13:29Jer 17:5Jer 18:151Sa 2:17Ezk 44:10Isa 30:11Mal 2:51Sa 2:24 “So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not kept My ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law.” 1Sa 2:30Deu 1:17Luk 11:421Ki 22:28Ezk 13:12-16Ezk 13:21Gal 2:6Luk 10:29
Judah’s Unfaithfulness
Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? Psa 100:3Mal 2:111Co 8:6Eph 4:6Isa 63:16Isa 64:8Act 7:26Mal 2:14-15
Judah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the LORD’s beloved sanctuary by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. 2Co 6:14-18Ezr 9:1-21Ki 11:1-8Deu 7:3-6Exo 19:5-6Lev 20:26Neh 13:23-29Psa 106:34-39 As for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who is awake and aware—even if he brings an offering to the LORD of Hosts. 1Ch 25:81Sa 15:22-231Sa 2:31-341Sa 3:142Ti 3:13Amo 5:22Ezk 14:10Ezk 24:21
And this is another thing you do: You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer regards your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands. Isa 1:11-15Jer 14:12Psa 78:34-371Sa 1:9-102Sa 13:19-20Deu 15:9Deu 26:14Ecc 4:1
Yet you ask, “Why?” Mal 2:15Ecc 9:9Isa 54:6Gen 31:50Jer 42:5Jer 8:12Mal 3:5Pro 2:17
It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. Mat 19:4-6Mal 2:14Mrk 10:6-8Gen 1:27Gen 2:20-241Ti 3:11-121Co 7:142Co 6:18
“For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,” 2 says the LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith. Mat 19:3-9Mat 5:31-32Mrk 10:2-12Luk 16:18Pro 28:13Deu 24:1-4Isa 50:1Isa 59:6
You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” Isa 43:242Pe 3:3-4Ecc 8:11Isa 30:18Isa 5:18-20Zep 1:121Sa 2:3Amo 2:13
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”