1. The Lord Almighty says to the priests, “This command is for you:
2. You must honour me by what you do. If you will not listen to what I say, then I will bring a curse on you. I will put a curse on the things you receive for your support. In fact, I have already put a curse on them, because you do not take my command seriously.
3. I will punish your children and rub your faces in the dung of the animals you sacrifice — and you will be taken out to the dunghill.
4. Then you will know that I have given you this command, so that my covenant with the priests, the descendants of Levi, will not be broken.
5. “In my covenant I promised them life and wellbeing, and this is what I gave them, so that they might respect me. In those days they did respect and fear me.
6. They taught what was right, not what was wrong. They lived in harmony with me; they not only did what was right themselves, but they also helped many others to stop doing evil.
7. It is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn my will, because they are the messengers of the Lord Almighty.
8. “But now you priests have turned away from the right path. Your teaching has led many to do wrong. You have broken the covenant I made with you.
9. So I, in turn, will make the people of Israel despise you because you do not obey my will, and when you teach my people, you do not treat everyone alike.”
10. Don't we all have the same father? Didn't the same God create us all? Then why do we break our promises to one another, and why do we despise the covenant that God made with our ancestors?