Malachi 2:4

¹²“Behold, ^[+] I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who open the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine,

²³I will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”’

¹¹‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’

²⁹Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.

²Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

⁹As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet happens, then the prophet will be known, that the LORD has truly sent him.”

⁹The Lord GOD says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.

¹⁰“‘“But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they will bear their iniquity. ¹¹Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house. They shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. ¹²Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up my hand against them,” says the Lord GOD, “and they will bear their iniquity. ¹³They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service and for all that will be done therein.

¹⁵“‘“But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord GOD. ¹⁶“They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.

^12[+] His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

²⁴Therefore the Lord,^[+] GOD of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies. ²⁵I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.^26[+] I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness, a faithful town.’ ²⁷Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. ²⁸But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

²⁵Micaiah said, “Behold, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.”