A Warning to the Priests

¹“And now this decree is for you, O priests:

²If 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.

³Behold, I will rebuke your descendants,and I will spread dung on your faces, the waste from your feasts, and you will be carried off with it.

⁴Then you will know that I have sent you this commandment so that My covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD of Hosts.

⁵“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.

⁶True 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.

⁷For 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.

⁸But 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.

⁹“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.”

Judah’s Unfaithfulness

¹⁰Do 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?

¹¹Judah 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.

¹²As 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.

¹³And 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.

¹⁴Yet you ask, “Why?”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.

¹⁵Has 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.

¹⁶“For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,”says the LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith.

¹⁷You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?”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?”

The Burden against Damascus

¹This is the burden against Damascus:“Behold, Damascus is no longer a city;it has become a heap of ruins.

²The cities of Aroer are forsaken;they will be left to the flocks,which will lie down with no one to fear.

³The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,and the sovereignty from Damascus.The remnant of Aram will belike the splendor of the Israelites,”declares the LORD of Hosts.

⁴“In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade,and the fat of his body will waste away,

⁵as the reaper gathers the standing grainand harvests the ears with his arm,as one gleans heads of grainin the Valley of Rephaim.

⁶Yet gleanings will remain,like an olive tree that has been beaten—two or three berries atop the tree,four or five on its fruitful branches,”declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁷In that day men will look to their Makerand turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

⁸They will not look to the altarsthey have fashioned with their handsor to the Asherahs and incense altarsthey have made with their fingers.

⁹In that day their strong citieswill be like forsaken thickets and summits,abandoned to the Israelitesand to utter desolation.

¹⁰For you have forgotten the God of your salvationand failed to remember the Rock of your refuge.Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plotsand set out cuttings from exotic vines—

¹¹though on the day you plantyou make them grow,and on that morningyou help your seed sprout—yet the harvest will vanishon the day of disease and incurable pain.

¹²Alas, the tumult of many peoples;they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations;they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.

¹³The nations rage like the rush of many waters.He rebukes them, and they flee far away,driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,like tumbleweeds before a gale.

¹⁴In the evening, there is sudden terror!Before morning, they are no more!This is the portion of those who loot usand the lot of those who plunder us.

Ephraim’s Iniquity

¹When I heal Israel,the iniquity of Ephraimwill be exposed,as well as the crimes of Samaria.For they practice deceit and thieves break in;bandits raid in the streets.

²But they fail to consider in their heartsthat I remember all their evil.Now their deeds are all around them;they are before My face.

³They delight the king with their evil,and the princes with their lies.

⁴They are all adulterers,like an oven heated by a bakerwho needs not stoke the firefrom the kneading to the rising of the dough.

⁵The princes are inflamed with wineon the day of our king;so he joins handswith those who mock him.

⁶For they prepare their heart like an ovenwhile they lie in wait;all night their anger smolders;in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot as an oven,and they devour their rulers.All their kings fall;not one of them calls upon Me.

⁸Ephraim mixes with the nations;Ephraim is an unturned cake.

⁹Foreigners consume his strength,but he does not notice.Even his hair is streaked with gray,but he does not know.

¹⁰Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,yet they do not return to the LORD their God;despite all this, they do not seek Him.

¹¹So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.

¹²As they go, I will spread My net over them;I will bring them down like birds of the air.I will chastise themwhen I hear them flocking together.

¹³Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me!Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against Me!Though I would redeem them,they speak lies against Me.

¹⁴They do not cry out to Me from their heartswhen they wail upon their beds.They slash themselvesfor grain and new wine,but turn away from Me.

¹⁵Although I trained and strengthened their arms,they plot evil against Me.

¹⁶They turn, but not to the Most High;they are like a faulty bow.Their leaders will fall by the swordfor the cursing of their tongue;for this they will be ridiculedin the land of Egypt.

Delight Yourself in the LORD

¹Do not fret over those who do evil;do not envy those who do wrong.

²For they wither quickly like grassand wilt like tender plants.

³Trust in the LORD and do good;dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

⁴Delight yourself in the LORD,and He will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵Commit your way to the LORD;trust in Him, and He will do it.

⁶He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn,your justice like the noonday sun.

⁷Be still before the LORDand wait patiently for Him;do not fret when men prosper in their ways,when they carry out wicked schemes.

⁸Refrain from anger and abandon wrath;do not fret—it can only bring harm.

⁹For the evildoers will be cut off,but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

¹⁰Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more;though you look for them, they will not be found.

¹¹But the meek will inherit the landand delight in abundant prosperity.

¹²The wicked scheme against the righteousand gnash their teeth at them,

¹³but the Lord laughs,seeing that their day is coming.

¹⁴The wicked have drawn the swordand bent the bowto bring down the poor and needy,to slay those whose ways are upright.

¹⁵But their swords will pierce their own hearts,and their bows will be broken.

¹⁶Better is the little of the righteousthan the abundance of many who are wicked.

¹⁷For the arms of the wicked will be broken,but the LORD upholds the righteous.

¹⁸The LORD knows the days of the blameless,and their inheritance will last forever.

¹⁹In the time of evil they will not be ashamed,and in the days of famine they will be satisfied.

²⁰But the wicked and enemies of the LORDwill perish like the glory of the fields.They will vanish;like smoke they will fade away.

²¹The wicked borrow and do not repay,but the righteous are gracious and giving.

²²Surely those He blesses will inherit the land,but the cursed will be destroyed.

²³The steps of a man are ordered by the LORDwho takes delight in his journey.

²⁴Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed,for the LORD is holding his hand.

²⁵I once was young and now am old,yet never have I seen the righteous abandonedor their children begging for bread.

²⁶They are ever generous and quick to lend,and their children are a blessing.

²⁷Turn away from evil and do good,so that you will abide forever.

²⁸For the LORD loves justiceand will not forsake His saints.They are preserved forever,but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.

²⁹The righteous will inherit the landand dwell in it forever.

³⁰The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom,and his tongue speaks justice.

³¹The law of his God is in his heart;his steps do not falter.

³²Though the wicked lie in wait for the righteous,and seek to slay them,

³³the LORD will not leave them in their poweror let them be condemned under judgment.

³⁴Wait for the LORD and keep His way,and He will raise you up to inherit the land.When the wicked are cut off,you will see it.

³⁵I have seen a wicked, ruthless manflourishing like a well-rooted native tree,

³⁶yet he passed away and was no more;though I searched, he could not be found.

³⁷Consider the blameless and observe the upright,for posterity awaits the man of peace.

³⁸But the transgressors will all be destroyed;the future of the wicked will be cut off.

³⁹The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;He is their stronghold in time of trouble.

⁴⁰The LORD helps and delivers them;He rescues and saves them from the wicked,because they take refuge in Him.