Day 381 of 730

¹"Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.

²If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name," says the Lord of hosts, "then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.

³Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

⁴You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi," says the Lord of hosts.

⁵"My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.

⁶The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.

⁷For 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.

⁸But 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.

⁹"Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.

¹⁰Do we not all have one father? Hasn't one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

¹¹Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

¹²The Lord will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to the Lord of hosts.

¹³This again you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn't regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.

¹⁴Yet you say, 'Why?' Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.

¹⁵Did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

¹⁶For I hate divorce," says the Lord, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with violence!" says the Lord of hosts. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.

¹⁷You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, 'How have we wearied him?' In that you say, 'Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them;' or 'Where is the God of justice?'

¹Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!

²Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp.

³Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.

⁴For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out over the land of Egypt, I heard a language that I did not know.

⁶"I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket.

⁷You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah." Selah.

⁸"Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me!

⁹There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god.

¹⁰I am the Lord, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹But my people did not listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.

¹²So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.

¹³Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!

¹⁴I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries.

¹⁵The haters of the Lord would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.

¹⁶But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock."

¹Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars.

²She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table.

³She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city:

⁴"Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,

⁵"Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed!

⁶Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding."

⁷He who corrects a mocker invites insult. He who reproves a wicked man invites abuse.

⁸Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

¹⁰The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will be multiplied. The years of your life will be increased.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you mock, you alone will bear it.

¹³The foolish woman is loud, Undisciplined, and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,

¹⁵To call to those who pass by, who go straight on their ways,

¹⁶"Whoever is simple, let him turn in here." as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,

¹⁷"Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant."

¹⁸But he doesn't know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.