Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 436
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IMMERSE
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PROPHETS
1:10–2:9
kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord
of Heaven’s Armies.
“How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these
worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says
the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings. But
my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night.
All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor
of my name. For my name is great among the nations,” says the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies.
“But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contempt
ible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. You say, ‘It’s
too hard to serve the Lord,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,”
says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen
and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings! Should I accept
from you such offerings as these?” asks the Lord.
“Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but
then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the
Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations!
“Listen, you priests—this command is for you! Listen to me and make up
your minds to honor my name,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “or I
will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the blessings you
receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken
my warning to heart. I will punish your descendants and splatter your faces
with the manure from your festival sacrifices, and I will throw you on the
manure pile. Then at last you will know it was I who sent you this warn
ing so that my covenant with the Levites can continue,” says the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies.
“The purpose of my covenant with the Levites was to bring life and
peace, and that is what I gave them. This required reverence from them,
and they greatly revered me and stood in awe of my name. They passed
on to the people the truth of the instructions they received from me. They
did not lie or cheat; they walked with me, living good and righteous lives,
and they turned many from lives of sin.
“The words of a priest’s lips should preserve knowledge of God, and
people should go to him for instruction, for the priest is the messenger of
the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. But you priests have left God’s paths. Your
instructions have caused many to stumble into sin. You have corrupted the
covenant I made with the Levites,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So
I have made you despised and humiliated in the eyes of all the people. For
you have not obeyed me but have shown favoritism in the way you carry
out my instructions.”
