1 AND now, O ye priests, [ Malachi is still addressing the priesthood holders of his day. He will provide details here as to what a priesthood holder should be like. ] this commandment is for you.

2  If ye will not hear, [ A good priesthood holder needs to listen to the Lord. ] and if ye will not lay it to heart, [ A good priesthood holder needs to develop the character of God, take what God says to heart. ] to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, [ I will rebuke you. ] and spread dung upon your faces, [ Or to openly disgrace oneself. Such that people do not want to be around them as members of the church and as holders of the priesthood. ] even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, [ To repent, to change their ways, to set a new mark. ] that my covenant might be with Levi, [ Or that the covenant that God gave to the tribe of Levi that they would hold and administer the priesthood as was given in the days of Moses, because they were not involved with the golden calf. ] saith the LORD of hosts.

5  My covenant was with him [ D&C 59:23 gives us a better explanation. ] of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.

6  The law of truth was in his mouth, [ A good priesthood holder needs to speak the truth, the law of truth means that he is honest. ] and iniquity [ A good priesthood holder does not gossip, speaking evil of the Lords anointed, or tell inappropriate jokes. ] was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, [ A good priesthood holder is going in the same direction with God, in harmony, on the same path. Your character is becoming like the character of God. ] and did turn many away from iniquity. [ A good priesthood holder is a messenger of salvation for others by teaching them the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ]

7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, [ A good priesthood holder is a student of the scriptures, he studies them as well as words of the prophets. ] and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

8  But ye [ You brethren who hold the priesthood. ] are departed out of the way; [ Your path is not in harmony with Gods path, you are not walking in the same direction, you are not in peace and equity with God. ] ye have caused many to stumble at the law; [ Why? Because you have been bad examples. ] ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law. [ You are not fair and just as you apply the law. ]

10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? [ What is the covenant of our fathers? Which he is going to identify what that covenant is right now. ]

11 ¶ Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. [ So the first part of the covenant that they are disobeying is that that they are marrying outside of the covenant. They are told that they should know the law in verse 7, and so where do we find the law regarding marrying in the covenant? Duet 7:1-4 provided the law regarding mariage outside of the covenant. ]

12 The LORD will cut off [ Excommunicate. ] the man that doeth this, the master [ Is the teacher. ] and the scholar, [ Is the student. ] out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.

13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.

14 ¶ Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, [ The one whom you loved in the beginning, your first love. ] against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. [ They were married by the power of the holy priesthood, they were married under the covenant. ]

15  And did not he make one? [ They are united as one. ] Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. [ From the seed of this righteous couple will come forth a righteous seed. ] Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, [ Kafar. Anciently a man would put his garment around the one that he claimed, and was a sign that he would protect her. As God did for Adam in the garden. So the contrast here is the ill-treatment that the man is showing the woman. ] saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. [ So as the husband and wife grow older the husband is pulled to the youthful way of a younger woman, as a result the husband divorces the wife of his youth the one that he married under the covenant. ]

17 ¶ Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment? [ So in essence they are saying well we say our prayers and we are good, and if we were not good God would have judged us. So since he has not judged us all is good here. We need to remember that sometimes justice is slow in coming; but make no mistake about it - it will come. (Elder Marion D Hanks) ]