Malachi 2:3

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

² If 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.

Behold, 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 Then 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.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: Behold, 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.
KJV: Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
WEB: Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
ASV: Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and ye shall be taken away with it.
DARBY: Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, the dung of your feasts; and they shall take you away with it.
BLB: Behold, I am giving a rebuke to your⁺ seed, and I will spread dung on your⁺ faces, the dung from your⁺ feasts, and it will carry you⁺ off with it.

ÅB: Se, jeg forbanner deres slekt og kaster møkk i ansiktet på dere, møkk av deres høytidsoffere[^2]; og dere skal selv bli kastet opp i den.
OTB: Se, jeg vil refse deres etterkommere, og jeg vil spre møkk på deres ansikter, møkka fra deres festoffer, og dere vil bli båret bort med den.
B1930: Se, jeg forbanner eders ætt og kaster møkk i ansiktet på eder, møkk av eders høitidsoffere; og I skal selv bli kastet op i den. / < 2MO 29, 14.>

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Nahum 3:6
I will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.
Read in context
Malachi 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.”
Read in context
Joel 1:17
The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away.
Read in context
1 Kings 14:10
Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone!
Read in context
Exodus 29:14
But burn the flesh of the bull and its hide and dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
Read in context
Job 20:7
he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’
Read in context
Psalms 83:10
who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground.
Read in context
1 Corinthians 4:13
when we are slandered, we answer gently. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
Read in context