The Lord Warns the Priests
1“Now I am giving this warning to you priests. 2Listen to it. Honor me with all your heart,” says the Lord who rules over all. “If you do not, I will send a curse on you. I will turn your blessings into curses. In fact, I have already done that because you have not honored me with all your heart.
3“Because of what you have done, I will punish your children. I will smear the waste from your sacrifices on your faces. And you will be carried off to the dump along with it. 4You will know that I have given you this warning. I have warned you so that my covenant with Levi will continue,” says the Lord who rules over all. 5“My covenant promised Levi life and peace. So I gave them to him. I required him to respect me. And he had great respect for my name. 6True teaching came from his mouth. Nothing but the truth came from his lips. He walked with me in peace. He did what was right. He turned many people away from their sins.
7“The lips of a priest should guard knowledge. After all, he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all. And people seek instruction from his mouth. 8But you have turned away from the right path. Your teaching has caused many people to trip and fall. You have broken my covenant with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all. 9“So I have caused all the people to hate you. They have lost respect for you. You have not done what I told you to do. Instead, you have favored one person over another in matters of the law.”
Breaking the Covenant Through Divorce
10People of Judah, all of us have one Father. One God created us. So why do we break the covenant the Lord made with our people of long ago? We do this by being unfaithful to one another.
11And Judah has been unfaithful. A hateful thing has been done in Israel and Jerusalem. The Lord loves his temple. But Judah has made it impure. Their men have married women who worship other gods. 12May the Lord punish the man who marries a woman like this. It doesn’t matter who that man is. May the Lord who rules over all remove him from the tents of Jacob’s people. May the Lord remove him even if he brings an offering to him.
13Here’s something else you do. You flood the Lord’s altar with your tears. You weep and cry because your offerings don’t please him anymore. He doesn’t accept them with pleasure from your hands. 14You ask, “Why?” It’s because the Lord is holding you responsible. He watches how you treat the wife you married when you were young. You have been unfaithful to her. You did it even though she’s your partner. You promised to stay married to her. And the Lord was a witness to it.
15Hasn’t the one God made the two of you one also? Both of you belong to him in body and spirit. And why has the one God made you one? Because he wants his children to be like him. So be careful. Don’t be unfaithful to the wife you married when you were young.
16“Suppose a man hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord God of Israel. “Then he is harming the one he should protect,” says the Lord who rules over all.
So be careful. And don’t be unfaithful.
Breaking the Covenant by Treating Others Unfairly
17You have worn out the Lord by what you keep saying.
“How have we worn him out?” you ask.
You have done it by saying, “All those who do evil things are good in the Lord’s sight. And he is pleased with them.” Or you ask, “Is God really fair?”
Advarsel til præsterne
1I præster, lyt til denne advarsel fra Herren den Almægtige:
2„Hvis I ikke adlyder mig og ændrer indstilling, hvis I ikke tager det alvorligt med at vise ærefrygt for mig, må I tage konsekvensen. I stedet for at velsigne jer vil jeg sende forbandelse over jer, og de velsignelser, I udtaler over andre, bliver til forbandelser. Ja, det er allerede sket, fordi I ikke tog mine befalinger alvorligt.
3Jeg vil vride armen om på jer,2,3 Den masoretiske tekst siger: „Jeg vil true sæden.” LXX siger: „Jeg tager jeres arm væk.” (De hebraiske ord for sæd og overarm ligner hinanden til forveksling.) Overarmen/skulderen var symbol på styrke, så det er sandsynligvis en trussel om at blive frataget stillingen som præst og samtidig blive vanæret. kaste affaldet fra jeres offerdyr i ansigtet på jer og smide jer på møddingen sammen med det. 4Jeg har givet jer denne advarsel, for at I skal overholde den pagt, jeg sluttede med levitterne. 5Min pagt med dem var, at jeg ville give dem liv og fremgang, og de skulle til gengæld vise mig ære og respekt. Og det gjorde de før i tiden. 6De underviste folket i sandheden. De snød og bedrog mig ikke—nej, de handlede ærligt og oprigtigt, og de fik mange til at omvende sig fra deres synder.
7Enhver præst bør tale med visdom, så folk kan komme til ham og få undervisning, for en præst er et sendebud fra Gud, den Almægtige. 8Men I har vendt mig ryggen, og med jeres lære har I fået folket til at overtræde mine befalinger. I har brudt den pagt, jeg indgik med levitterne om at de skulle være mine tjenere. 9Derfor bliver I vanæret i folkets øjne, for I gør ikke, hvad jeg siger. I stedet udnytter I loven til egen fordel.”2,9 Eller: „viser personsanseelse i administrationen af loven.” Jf. Mika 3,11.
Folkets utroskab
10Vi er jo alle skabt af den samme Gud. Vi har den samme far. Når vi hører sammen, hvorfor svigter vi så hinanden ved at bryde den pagt, Gud indstiftede med vores forfædre? 11Judas folk har svigtet. Der er begået en stor synd i Israel og Jerusalem. Judas folk har ødelagt deres status som Guds hellige og elskede folk ved at gifte sig med ikke-jødiske kvinder, som holder fast ved afguderne. 12Må Herren udrydde enhver israelit, der handler sådan, uanset hvem det er, og uanset om de bringer ofre til Herren eller ej.
13-14En anden synd, I begår, er at bryde ægteskabet. Det hjælper intet, at I klager over, at Gud ikke længere tager imod jeres ofre. Det hjælper heller ikke at græde nok så mange tårer ved alteret. I spørger, hvorfor Gud har forladt jer, for han tager ikke længere imod jeres ofre. Jeg skal sige jer hvorfor. Herren var vidne til den ægteskabspagt, du indgik med din hustru i din ungdom. Men du har været utro imod hende, selvom hun er din ægtefælle, som du indgik en pagt med. 15Ingen, som har noget tilbage af Guds Ånd i sig, vil gøre sådan. Og hvorfor ikke? Fordi han ønsker, at hans børn skal tjene Gud.2,15 Teksten er uklar. Derfor bør du lytte til din ånd og ikke svigte den hustru, du fik i din ungdom.
16„Jeg hader skilsmisse!” siger Herren, Israels Gud. „Det er som at begå vold. Forstå, hvad der er Guds vilje, og svigt ikke din hustru.”
Der kommer en dom over de ugudelige
17Jeres ord gør Herren bedrøvet. „Hvad har vi da sagt?” spørger I. I hævder, at han accepterer de gudløses ondskab, da han tilsyneladende ikke straffer dem.
