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Read the Bible

Revised Standard Version

Malachi 2:8

But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts,

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Minister, Christian;   Thompson Chain Reference - Helps-Hindrances;   Stumbling-Blocks;   The Topic Concordance - Contempt;   Corruption;   Disobedience;   Priests;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Offence;   Priests;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Malachi;   Priest;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Malachi;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Priest;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Covenant;   Excommunication;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Shekinah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Israel, Israelite;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Corrupt;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ezekiel;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for January 11;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“You, on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Armies.
King James Version (1611)
But yee are departed out of the way: ye haue caused many to stumble at the law: ye haue corrupted the couenant of Leui, saith the Lord of hostes.
King James Version
But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
English Standard Version
But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts,
New American Standard Bible
"But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have ruined the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of armies.
New Century Version
But you priests have stopped obeying me. With your teachings you have caused many people to do wrong. You have broken the agreement with the tribe of Levi!" says the Lord All-Powerful.
Amplified Bible
"But as for you [priests], you have turned from the way and you have caused many to stumble by your instruction [in the law]. You have violated the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of hosts.
Geneva Bible (1587)
But yee are gone out of the way: yee haue caused many to fall by the Lawe: yee haue broken the couenant of Leui, sayeth the Lord of hostes.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of hosts.
Legacy Standard Bible
But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says Yahweh of hosts.
Berean Standard Bible
"But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of Hosts.
Contemporary English Version
But you have turned your backs on me. Your teachings have led others to do sinful things, and you have broken the agreement I made with your ancestor Levi.
Complete Jewish Bible
But you turned away from the path, you caused many to fail in the Torah, you corrupted the covenant of Levi," says Adonai -Tzva'ot.
Darby Translation
But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts.
Easy-to-Read Version
"But you priests stopped following me! You used the teachings to make people do wrong. You ruined the agreement with Levi." This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
George Lamsa Translation
But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts.
Good News Translation
"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.
Lexham English Bible
But you, you have turned from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have ruined the covenant of Levi," says Yahweh of hosts.
Literal Translation
But you have turned out of the way; you have caused many to stumble at the Law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says Jehovah of Hosts.
American Standard Version
But ye are turned aside out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble in the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts.
Bible in Basic English
But you are turned out of the way; you have made the law hard for numbers of people; you have made the agreement of Levi of no value, says the Lord of armies.
Hebrew Names Version
But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of Hosts.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
But ye are turned aside out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble in the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But ye haue gone out of the way, ye haue caused many to fall by the lawe: ye haue corrupted the couenaunt of Leui, saith the Lorde of hoastes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But ye have turned aside from the way, and caused many to fail in following the law: ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord Almighty.
English Revised Version
But ye are turned aside out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble in the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
World English Bible
But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says Yahweh of Hosts.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But ye wenten awei fro the weie, and sclaundren ful many men in the lawe; ye maden voide the couenaunt of Leuy, seith the Lord of oostis.
Update Bible Version
But you have turned aside out of the way; you have caused many to stumble in the law; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says Yahweh of hosts.
Webster's Bible Translation
But ye have departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
New English Translation
You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law; you have corrupted the covenant with Levi," says the Lord who rules over all.
New King James Version
But you have departed from the way; You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," Says the LORD of hosts.
New Living Translation
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.
New Life Bible
But you have turned aside from the way. You have made many fall by your teaching. You have sinned against the agreement of Levi," says the Lord of All.
New Revised Standard
But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, ye, have departed out of the way, ye have caused multitudes to stumble at the deliverance, - ye have violated the covenant of Levi, saith Yahweh of hosts.
Douay-Rheims Bible
But you have departed out of the way, and have caused many to stumble at the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
Young's Literal Translation
And ye, ye have turned from the way, Ye have caused many to stumble in the law, Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But as for you, ye are gone clene out off the waye, and haue caused the multitude to be offended at the lawe: ye haue broken the couenaunt of Leui, sayeth the LORDE of hoostes.

Contextual Overview

1 "And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; indeed I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung upon your faces, the dung of your offerings, and I will put you out of my presence. 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may hold, says the LORD of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him, that he might fear; and he feared me, he stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7 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. 8 But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in your instruction."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ye are: Psalms 18:21, Psalms 119:102, Isaiah 30:11, Isaiah 59:13, Jeremiah 17:5, Jeremiah 17:13, Ezekiel 44:10, Daniel 9:5, Daniel 9:6, Hebrews 3:12

ye have caused: Malachi 2:9, 1 Samuel 2:17, 1 Samuel 2:24, 1 Samuel 2:30, Isaiah 9:16, Jeremiah 18:15, Jeremiah 23:11-15, Matthew 15:2-5, Luke 11:45, Luke 11:46, Romans 2:19-24, Romans 14:21

stumble at: or, fall in

ye have corrupted: Malachi 2:5, Malachi 2:10, Leviticus 21:15, Nehemiah 13:29

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 17:11 - According to 2 Kings 5:27 - leprosy 2 Kings 23:9 - the priests Ezra 10:18 - the sons Psalms 73:15 - offend Psalms 119:126 - they Proverbs 12:8 - he Ezekiel 22:26 - priests Ezekiel 44:12 - they ministered Hosea 4:6 - because Micah 3:5 - concerning Zephaniah 3:4 - her priests Malachi 1:6 - O priests Malachi 1:12 - ye have Matthew 5:19 - shall teach Matthew 15:14 - they Mark 11:33 - We

Cross-References

Genesis 2:8
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Genesis 2:9
And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 3:24
He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 4:16
Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Genesis 13:10
And Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw that the Jordan valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zo'ar; this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomor'rah.
2 Kings 19:12
Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations which my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar?
Isaiah 51:3
For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Ezekiel 27:23
Haran, Canneh, Eden, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you.
Ezekiel 28:13
You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, carnelian, topaz, and jasper, chrysolite, beryl, and onyx, sapphire, carbuncle, and emerald; and wrought in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared.
Ezekiel 31:16
I will make the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the Pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, will be comforted in the nether world.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But ye are departed out of the way,.... Of truth and righteousness, of life and peace, of eternal salvation and happiness, pointed to by Christ and his forerunner, and by his apostles and ministers that followed him, and which was clearly showed in the preaching of the Gospel: this was the character of the chief priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, in Christ's time, to which the prophet seems to have respect; who not only failed in their observance of legal sacrifices, complained of in the former chapter Malachi 1:1, but left that way of atonement and salvation they directed to, and led others out of the way with them:

ye have caused many to stumble at the law; at the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ; which was the stumbling stone they fell at, seeking for righteousness, and directing others to seek for it, not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, Romans 9:32:

ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts: that which was foreshadowed by the Levitical priesthood and covenant, namely, the covenant of grace, dispensed under the Gospel dispensation by the ministry of the word and ordinances; which they rejected, despised, and set at nought, and as much as in them lay endeavoured to make void, by not attending to these things, nor suffering others, but doing all they could to bring them into disuse, contempt, and disgrace.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But ye - o are departed out of the way “of knowledge, truth, equity, fear of God, which I appointed to Aaron and the Levites.” “Ye have caused many to stumble at the law.” He does not simply say, “in the law,” but “at” it. The law was what they stumbled at. They did not only misunderstand the law, through the false teaching of the priests, as though it allowed things which in truth were sins (although this too); itself was their source of stumbling. As Jesus Himself was “a rock of offence” whereon they stumbled, because through His divine holiness He was not what they expected Him to be, so contrariwise the law became an offence to them through the unholiness and inconsistency of the lives and ways of those who taught it; much as we now hear Christianity spoken against, because of the inconsistency of Christians. So Paul saith to the Jews Romans 2:24, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written;” and, for the sins of Eli’s sons (1 Samuel 2:17, Pococke) “men abhorred the offering of the Lord.”

And have corrupted the covenant of Levi - as it is said in Nehemiah, Nehemiah 13:29, “They have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood and of Levi, that covenant which was life and peace” Malachi 2:5, and, therefore, forfeited them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Malachi 2:8. But ye are departed out of the way — Ye are become impure yourselves, and ye have led others into iniquity.


 
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