Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, June 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 6 / Ordinary 11
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Read the Bible

New Living Translation

Malachi 2:7

"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.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Knowledge;   Levites;   Messenger;   Minister, Christian;   Priest;   Thompson Chain Reference - Helps-Hindrances;   Leaders;   Priests;   Religious;   Stumbling-Blocks;   The Topic Concordance - Contempt;   Corruption;   Disobedience;   Priests;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Courts of Justice;   Jews, the;   Law of Moses, the;   Ministers;   Priests;   Seeking God;   Titles and Names of Ministers;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Angel;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Malachi;   Priest;   Scribes;   Teacher;   Wisdom literature;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Angel;   Urim and Thummim;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Angel;   Priest;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Angels;   Education;   Priest;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Archangel;   Covenant;   Excommunication;   Messenger;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Angels of the Seven Churches;   Ethics;   Jeremy;   Priests and Levites;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Angels of the Seven Churches;   Israel, Israelite;   Messenger;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Aaronic Priesthood;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Messenger;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Angels;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Priest;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Angel;   Angels of the Seven Churches;   Intercession;   Malachi;   Messenger;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Angels;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Aaron;   Authority, Rabbinical;   Education;   Priest;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for January 11;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Armies.
King James Version (1611)
For the priests lips should keepe knowledge, and they should seeke the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hostes.
King James Version
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
English Standard Version
For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
New American Standard Bible
"For the lips of a priest should maintain knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of armies.
New Century Version
"A priest should teach what he knows, and people should learn the teachings from him, because he is the messenger of the Lord All-Powerful.
Amplified Bible
"For the lips of the priest should guard and preserve knowledge [of My law], and the people should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For the Priestes lippes shoulde preserue knowledge, and they shoulde seeke the Lawe at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lorde of hostes.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
Legacy Standard Bible
For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts.
Berean Standard Bible
For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts."
Contemporary English Version
You priests should be eager to spread knowledge, and everyone should come to you for instruction, because you speak for me, the Lord All-Powerful.
Complete Jewish Bible
A cohen's lips should safeguard knowledge, and people should seek Torah from his mouth, because he is the messenger of Adonai -Tzva'ot.
Darby Translation
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and at his mouth they seek the law; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts.
Easy-to-Read Version
A priest should know God's teachings. People should be able to go to a priest and learn God's teachings. A priest should be the Lord 's messenger to the people.
George Lamsa Translation
For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, because men seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
Good News Translation
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.
Lexham English Bible
For the lips of the priest should guard knowledge, and they should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts.
Literal Translation
For the lips of the priest should guard knowledge, and they should seek the Law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of Hosts.
American Standard Version
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts.
Bible in Basic English
For it is right for the priest's lips to keep knowledge, and for men to be waiting for the law from his mouth: for he is the servant sent from the Lord of armies.
Hebrew Names Version
For the Kohen's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For the priestes lippes shall kepe knowledge, and they shall seeke the lawe at his mouth: because he is the messenger of the Lorde of hoastes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.
English Revised Version
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
World English Bible
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Hosts.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For the lippis of a prest kepen science, and thei schulen ayen seke the lawe of `the mouth of hym, for he is an aungel of the Lord of oostes.
Update Bible Version
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts.
Webster's Bible Translation
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he [is] the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
New English Translation
For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.
New King James Version
"For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, And people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
New Life Bible
For the lips of a religious leader should have much learning. Men should listen for teaching from his mouth, for he is sent by the Lord of All.
New Revised Standard
For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, the lips of a priest, should keep knowledge, and, a deliverance, should men seek at his mouth, - for, the messenger of Yahweh of hosts, he is.
Douay-Rheims Bible
For the lips of the priests shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts.
Revised Standard Version
For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
Young's Literal Translation
For the lips of a priest preserve knowledge, And law they do seek from his mouth, For a messenger of Jehovah of Hosts he [is].
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For the prestes lippes shulde be sure knowlege, that men maye seke the lawe at his mouth, for he is a messaunger of the LORDE of hoostes.
THE MESSAGE
"It's the job of priests to teach the truth. People are supposed to look to them for guidance. The priest is the messenger of God -of-the-Angel-Armies. But you priests have abandoned the way of priests. Your teaching has messed up many lives. You have corrupted the covenant of priest Levi. God -of-the-Angel-Armies says so. And so I am showing you up for who you are. Everyone will be disgusted with you and avoid you because you don't live the way I told you to live, and you don't teach my revelation truly and impartially."

Contextual Overview

1 "Listen, you priests—this command is for you! 2 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. 3 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. 4 Then at last you will know it was I who sent you this warning so that my covenant with the Levites can continue," says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. 5 "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. 6 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. 7 "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. 8 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. 9 "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."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the priest's: Leviticus 10:11, Deuteronomy 17:8-11, Deuteronomy 21:5, Deuteronomy 24:8, 2 Chronicles 17:8, 2 Chronicles 17:9, 2 Chronicles 30:22, Ezra 7:10, Nehemiah 8:2-8, Jeremiah 15:19, Jeremiah 18:18, Haggai 2:11-13, 2 Timothy 2:24, 2 Timothy 2:25

the messenger: Malachi 3:1, Isaiah 42:19, Isaiah 44:26, Haggai 1:13, John 13:20, John 20:21, Acts 16:17, 2 Corinthians 5:20, Galatians 4:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:8

Reciprocal: Exodus 27:21 - Aaron Leviticus 13:2 - he shall Leviticus 13:3 - shall look Deuteronomy 17:9 - the priests Deuteronomy 19:17 - General Deuteronomy 27:14 - General Deuteronomy 31:9 - the priests 1 Samuel 14:36 - Then said the priest 2 Kings 16:11 - built an altar 1 Chronicles 23:4 - officers and judges 2 Chronicles 15:3 - a teaching 2 Chronicles 19:11 - all matters 2 Chronicles 31:4 - the law 2 Chronicles 35:3 - the Levites Ezra 7:25 - teach ye Nehemiah 8:7 - caused Job 33:23 - a messenger Proverbs 5:2 - thy lips Proverbs 22:18 - fitted Ecclesiastes 5:6 - before Jeremiah 5:5 - get me Ezekiel 8:1 - and the Daniel 11:33 - understand Hosea 4:6 - because Zechariah 7:3 - speak Matthew 2:4 - he demanded Matthew 15:6 - Thus Matthew 23:2 - General Mark 11:33 - We Luke 11:52 - for Luke 20:7 - that Revelation 1:20 - The seven stars

Cross-References

Genesis 2:14
The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.
Genesis 2:15
The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.
Genesis 2:20
He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
Genesis 2:21
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the opening.
Genesis 3:23
So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.
Genesis 7:22
Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died.
Numbers 16:22
But Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground. "O God," they pleaded, "you are the God who gives breath to all creatures. Must you be angry with all the people when only one man sins?"
Numbers 27:16
"O Lord , you are the God who gives breath to all creatures. Please appoint a new man as leader for the community.
Job 4:19
how much less will he trust people made of clay! They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth.
Job 27:3
As long as I live, while I have breath from God,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the priest's lips should keep knowledge,.... Or "shall keep knowledge", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; or "do keep knowledge", as the Arabic version; and so the Syriac version, "for the lips of the priest drop knowledge"; all this is true of Christ our great High Priest; for as it was predicted of him, that his lips should keep knowledge, so they have kept it, and do keep it; not concealing it, but preserving it, and communicating it freely and openly; as he did to his disciples and followers when here on earth, and by them to others; and still does by his Spirit, giving to men the knowledge of themselves and state; the knowledge of himself, and the way of salvation by him, and of the truths of the Gospel:

and they should seek the law at his mouth; not the law of Moses, but the doctrine of grace, and any wholesome instruction and advice; which he is greatly qualified to give, being the wonderful Counsellor: it may be rendered, "they shall seek", or "do seek"; and which has been fulfilled, especially in the Gentiles, and in the isles that waited for his law or doctrine, Isaiah 11:10:

for he [is] the messenger of the Lord of hosts; or "angel" w; he is the Angel of God's presence, and of the covenant, Isaiah 63:9 Malachi 3:1 which name he has from being sent, for he came not of himself, but his Father sent him; he was sent as a priest to atone for the sins of his people, and to be their Saviour; and as a prophet, to instruct and teach them; and therefore they should seek to him for knowledge, and attend his word and ordinances, and implore his spirit and grace.

w מלאך αγγελος, Sept; "angelus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius, Burkius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge - o “He assigns the reason for what he had just said, the law of truth was in his mouth; they had done what it was their duty to do; as in Ecclesiasticus it is said of Aaron (Ecclesiasticus 45:17), ‘God gave unto him His commandments, and authority in the statutes of judgments, that he should teach Jacob the testimonies, and inform Israel in His laws.’ So Paul requires of Titus to ordain such overseers, as shall be able to Titus 1:9, ‘exhort by sound doctrine and to convince gainsayers.’ Wherefore Ambrose calls the Bible, which contains the law of God, ‘the book of priests,’ as specially belonging to them, to be specially studied by them. Jerome notes that he says keep, not ‘give forth,’ that they should speak seasonably, and give their fellow-servants meat in due season.”

For he is the messenger (or angel) of the Lord of hosts - Malachi gives to the priest the title which belongs to the lowest order of the heavenly spirits, as having an office akin to theirs; as Haggai does to the prophet, Haggai 2:11. as an extraordinary “messenger” of God; and Paul tells the Galatians Galatians 4:14, “ye received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus;” and Christ, by John, speaks to the leaders of the seven congregations, good or bad, or of mixed good and bad, as “the angels Revelation 1:20 of those churches.”

“Since in the heavenly hierarchy the order of angels is the lowest, and in the eucharistical hierarchy the order of the priesthood is the highest” , “most truly is the priest of God called angel, i. e., messenger, because he intervenes between God and man, and announces the things of God to the people; and, therefore, were the Urim and Thummim placed on the priest’s breastplate of judgment, that we might learn, that the priest ought to be learned, a herald of divine truth.” Much more in the New Testament. “Who, as it were in a day, can form one of earth, to be the defender of truth, to stand with angels, to give glory with archangels, to transmit the sacrifices to the altar above, to be partaker of the priesthood of Christ, to reform the thing formed, and present the image, to re-create for the world above, to be a god and make men partakers of the divine nature?” 2 Peter 1:4. “The priesthood is enacted on earth, but is ranked with the heavenly ranks. Very rightly. For not man, not angel, not archangel, not any other created power, but the Paraclete Himself hath ordained this office, and persuaded them, while yet abiding in the flesh, to conceive the ministry of the angels. Wherefore, he who is consecrated as priest, ought to be pure, as if he stood among the heavenly powers.” , “The throne of the priesthood is placed in the heavens, and he is entrusted with ministering things of heaven. Who saith this? The King of heaven Himself. For He saith, ‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.’ So the priest standeth in the middle between God and human nature, bringing down to us divine benefits, and transmitting thither our supplications.”


 
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