Commentary on Malachi, Commentary · Chapter 2
THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THE PROPHET MALACHY.
AND now, O ye Prieſts, this commandement is for you.
2 If ye will not heare it, not conſider it in your heart, to give glory unto my Name, ſayth the Lord of hoſtes, I will even ſend a curſe upon you, and will curſe your bleſſings: yea, I have curſed them already, becauſe ye doe not conſider it in your heart.
3 Behold, I will corrupt your ſeede, and caſt dung upon your faces, even the dung of your ſolemne feaſts, and you ſhall be like unto it.
4 And ye ſhall know that I have ſent this commandement unto you, that my covenant which I made with Levi, might ſtand, ſaith the Lord of hoſtes.
5 My covenant was with him of life and peace, and I gave him feare, and he feared me, and was afrayde before my Name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and there was no iniquity found in his lippes: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turne many away from iniquity.
7 For the Prieſts lips ſhould preſerve knowledge, and they ſhould ſeeke the Law at his mouth: for he is the meſſenger of the Lord of hoſts.
8 But ye are gone out of the way: ye have cauſed many to fall by the Law: ye have broken the covenant of Levi, ſayth the Lord of hoſts.
9 Therefore have I alſo made you to be deſpiſed, and vile before all the people, becauſe ye kept not my wayes, but have beene partiall in the Law.
10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God made us? why do we tranſgreſſe every one againſt his brother, and breake the covenant of our fathers?
11 Judah hath tranſgreſſed, and an abomination is commited in Iſrael and in Jeruſalem: for Judah hath defiled the holineſſe of the Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a ſtrange god.
12 The Lord will cut off the man that doth this: both the maſter and the ſervant out of the Tabernacle of Jaacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hoſtes.
13 And this have ye done againe, and covered the altar of the Lord with teares, with weeping, and with mourning: becauſe the offering is no more regarded, neither received acceptably at your hands.
14 Yet yee ſay, Wherein? Becauſe the Lord hath beene witneſſe betweene thee and the wife of thy youth, againſt whom thou haſt tranſgreſſed, yet ſhe is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
15 And did not he make one? yet had he abundance of ſpirit: and wherefore one? becauſe he ſought a godly ſeede: therefore keepe your ſelves in your ſpirit, and let none treſpaſſe againſt the wife of his youth.
16 If thou hateſt her, put her away, ſayth the Lord God of Iſrael, yet he covereth the injury under his garment, ſayth the Lord of hoſts: therefore keep your ſelves in your ſpirit, and tranſgreſſe not.
17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words: yet ye ſay wherein have we wearied him? When ye ſay, every one that doth evill is good in the ſight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them. Or where is the God of judgement?