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?”
Juicio contra los sacerdotes
1»Ahora, pues, este mandato es para vosotros, los sacerdotes. 2Si no me hacéis caso ni os decidís a honrar mi nombre —dice el Señor Todopoderoso—, os enviaré una maldición, y maldeciré vuestras bendiciones. Ya las he maldecido, porque no os habéis decidido a honrarme.
3»Por esto, voy a reprender a vuestros descendientes. Os arrojaré a la cara los desperdicios de los sacrificios de vuestras fiestas, y os barreré junto con ellos. 4Entonces sabréis que os he dado este mandato, a fin de que continúe mi pacto con Leví —dice el Señor Todopoderoso—. 5Mi pacto con él era de vida y paz, y se las di; era también de temor, y él me temió, y mostró ante mí profunda reverencia. 6En su boca había instrucción fidedigna; en sus labios no se encontraba perversidad. En paz y rectitud caminó conmigo, y apartó del pecado a muchos.
7»Los labios de un sacerdote atesoran sabiduría, y de su boca los hombres buscan instrucción, porque es mensajero del Señor Todopoderoso. 8Pero vosotros os habéis desviado del camino y mediante vuestra instrucción habéis hecho tropezar a muchos; habéis arruinado el pacto con Leví —dice el Señor Todopoderoso—. 9Por mi parte, yo he hecho que seáis despreciables y viles ante todo el pueblo, porque no habéis guardado mis caminos, sino que habéis mostrado parcialidad en cuestiones de la ley».
Deslealtad de Judá
10¿No tenemos todos un solo Padre? ¿No nos creó un solo Dios? ¿Por qué, pues, profanamos el pacto de nuestros antepasados al traicionarnos unos a otros?
11Judá ha sido traicionero. En Israel y en Jerusalén se ha cometido algo detestable: al casarse Judá con la hija de un dios extraño, ha profanado el santuario2:11 el santuario. Alt. las cosas santas. que el Señor ama. 12En cuanto al hombre que haga eso, quienquiera que sea, que el Señor Todopoderoso lo excluya de los campamentos de Jacob, aun cuando le lleve ofrendas.
13Otra cosa que vosotros hacéis es inundar de lágrimas el altar del Señor; lloráis y os lamentáis porque él ya no presta atención a vuestras ofrendas ni las acepta de vuestras manos con agrado.
14Y todavía preguntáis por qué.
Pues porque el Señor actúa como testigo entre tú y la esposa de tu juventud, a la que traicionaste aunque es tu compañera, la esposa de tu pacto.2:14 pacto. Alt. vínculo matrimonial, o misma nacionalidad. 15¿Acaso no hizo el Señor un solo ser, que es cuerpo y espíritu? Y ¿por qué es uno solo? Porque busca descendencia dada por Dios.2:15 ¿Acaso … Dios. Texto de difícil traducción. Así que cuidaos en vuestro propio espíritu, y no traicionéis a la esposa de vuestra juventud. 16«Yo aborrezco el divorcio —dice el Señor, Dios de Israel—, y al que cubre2:16 Yo aborrezco el divorcio … y al que cubre. Alt. El que odia y se divorcia … cubre. de violencia sus vestiduras», dice el Señor Todopoderoso.
Así que cuidaos en vuestro espíritu, y no seáis traicioneros.
Acusaciones contra Judá
17Vosotros habéis cansado al Señor con vuestras palabras.
Y encima preguntáis: «¿En qué lo hemos cansado?»
En que decís: «Todo el que hace lo malo agrada al Señor, y él se complace con ellos»; y murmuráis: «¿Dónde está el Dios de justicia?»