Atlas Biblica

    Malachi · 17 verses

    Malachi 2

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    The priests are threatened with an astonishingly physical fate: dung from their feasts on their faces, followed by removal with the whole unsavoury parcel.

    The covenant with Levivv. 1–9

    The decree begins with priests who will not listen or honour the LORD’s name. Their blessings are cursed, their descendants rebuked, and the waste of their feasts becomes a remarkably emphatic face covering. The reason is set beside the example of Levi: a covenant of life and peace, reverence, true instruction, uprightness, and the turning of many from iniquity. Priestly lips ought to preserve knowledge, but these priests have departed from the way, made many stumble, violated the covenant, and shown partiality in matters of the law.

    Broken faith at home and sanctuaryvv. 10–16

    The question widens from priests to Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem: one Father, one God, yet faith broken and the covenant profaned. Judah has married the daughter of a foreign god, while the altar is covered with tears because offerings are no longer regarded. The answer is not hidden in the offerings but in the broken covenant between a man and the wife of his youth, his companion. The LORD says that the two were made one, and then supplies the chapter’s bluntest verdict on divorce before repeating the charge not to break faith.

    The weariness of wordsv. 17

    At the close, the LORD is wearied—not by a procession of burdens, but by words. The speakers ask how this has happened even as they declare that evildoers are good in the LORD’s sight and ask where the God of justice is. The question arrives carrying its own answer, which is a rather efficient arrangement.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Mal 2:1“And now this decree is for you, O priests:

    2. Mal 2:2If 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.

    3. Mal 2:3Behold, 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.

    4. Mal 2:4Then you will know that I have sent you this commandment so that My covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD of Hosts.

    5. Mal 2:5“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.

    6. Mal 2:6True 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.

    7. Mal 2:7For 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.

    8. Mal 2:8But 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. Mal 2:9“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.”

    10. Mal 2:10Do 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?

    11. Mal 2:11Judah 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.

    12. Mal 2:12As 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.

    13. Mal 2:13And 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.

    14. Mal 2:14Yet 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.

    15. Mal 2:15Has 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. Mal 2:16“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.

    17. Mal 2:17You 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?”

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 354 passages were voted onto 17 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 10Psalms 100:3Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
    • 10Malachi 2:11Judah 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.
    • 112 Corinthians 6:14–18Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
    • 16Matthew 19:3–9Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
    • 14Malachi 2:15Has 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.
    • 15Matthew 19:4–6Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
    • 72 Timothy 2:24–25And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
    • 15Mark 10:6–8However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’
    • 15Malachi 2:14Yet 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.
    • 6Daniel 12:3Then the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.
    • 16Matthew 5:31–32It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
    • 7Leviticus 10:11so that you may teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has given them through Moses.”
    • 101 Corinthians 8:6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.
    • 16Mark 10:2–12Some Pharisees came to test Him. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” they inquired.
    • 2Luke 17:18Was no one found except this foreigner to return and give glory to God?”
    • 2Revelation 14:7And he said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the One who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and the springs of waters.”

    Onward

    Keep reading

    Next chapterMalachi 318 verses.Named hereLeviEverything the graph connects to this name.BookMalachiAll 4 chapters.Every bookThe Bible66 books, 1,189 chapters.