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.