And now, this commandment is for you. I now command you to attend to this matter and to admonish the people concerning it.

If you do not listen because I am warning you, and if you do not take it to heart through the prompting of reason, which itself requires this—to give honor to My name—then I will send the curse upon you. The curse of which I said, “Cursed is the deceiver,” I will send upon you. And I will curse your blessings—the blessings with which you bless the people in the Priestly Blessing after the offering of the sacrifice, concerning which it is said, “They shall place My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them,” meaning that through you Hashem will bless the people. But now that you remove My name from the children of Israel and profane it, I will transform your blessings into a curse. Indeed, I have already cursed it, because you do not take it to heart.

Behold, I will rebuke the seed because of you. For they had been promised through Haggai (2:18–19) and Zechariah (chapter 8) that from the time they began building the Temple and offering sacrifices, blessing would rest upon the seed they sowed. But now, because you have not properly observed the requirements of the sacrificial service, I will rebuke the seed on your account so that it will not grow with blessing.

And I will scatter dung upon your faces. Since the sacrifices are disqualified, nothing remains of them except the dung—the excrement and ashes of the animals offered—which you bring into the Temple; this I will scatter upon your faces. Likewise, I will scatter upon you the dung of the sacrifices that you offer on your festivals, and it shall carry you away with it: it will consume and burn you until you become like the dung and ashes.

And you shall know that what I have sent to you—namely, this commandment—is because you have long been obligated by this commandment, so that My covenant might remain with Levi. For it was upon this condition that I made a covenant with Levi—that is, the covenant of the priesthood and the Levitical service—as he now explains.

My covenant, which was with him, had two sides. On My side, it was a covenant of life and peace: through the covenant I promised him life and peace, as it is written, “Behold, I give him My covenant of peace,” and, “They shall keep your charge … so that neither they nor you shall die” (Numbers 18:3), and “You shall not profane the sacred things of the children of Israel, lest you die” (ibid. 18:32). His side of the covenant was: I gave them to him for reverence, and he revered Me—he was to revere Me with the awe of exaltation because of My greatness. In addition, he was terrified before My name—he trembled before Me with fear of punishment.

Instruction. Through the fear of Hashem established in his heart, he will observe the words of Hashem, both in matters concerning teaching and testimony and in matters of conduct and practice. Concerning teaching, the teaching of truth was in his mouth: what he studied for himself was true teaching, in accordance with the wisdom received from Sinai; and injustice was not found on his lips: when he taught and rendered decisions for others, he ruled according to the law. I have explained elsewhere that the lips are external in relation to the mouth and signify what one expresses outwardly to teach others. I have further explained that the mouth always alludes to matters of wisdom, whereas the lips allude to matters of knowledge. That is, the mouth signifies what one has received from his teachers in matters of wisdom, which cannot be known independently but only through tradition. The verse says that he received a true tradition. The lips signify what he derives through his own understanding in matters accessible to reason, such as things apprehended through the senses or first principles that he knows independently with clear knowledge and expresses outwardly with his lips. In this there is a possibility of injustice if he errs in his reasoning and draws misleading inferences. It therefore says that injustice was not found on his lips. Concerning conduct governed by practical reason: in matters between man and God, he walked with Me in peace and uprightness; he did not deviate from Hashem’s commandments by disputing them, nor did he stray from the upright path and the commandments of the Torah. And in matters concerning others, he turned many away from sin through his rebukes and moral instruction. He now explains what the priest taught the people, both in Torah and in proper conduct.

For the lips of a priest shall preserve knowledge: the teachings that he taught others with his lips were matters that he had investigated through his own reason. This falls under the category of knowledge, which denotes things that a person knows independently with clear understanding, and it is associated with the lips, as explained above. Thus, when the verse says, “For the lips of a priest,” it means that they preserved knowledge, so that everything accessible to reason would be known with clarity. This is contrasted with matters of wisdom received through tradition, for which there are no rational demonstrations and which are associated with the mouth.

They shall seek Torah from his mouth, for he received both the Written and the Oral Torah, and those who receive the tradition from him shall seek it from him.

For he is a messenger of Hashem of Hosts, for he is Hashem’s emissary and messenger: both to preserve within his heart the tradition and the Torah given at Sinai, and to safeguard sacred knowledge through the spirit of Hashem resting upon him.

But you have been the opposite in both respects. In matters concerning your own conduct, you have departed from the path; and in matters concerning the guidance of the people and teaching them the statutes of the Torah, you have caused many to stumble through the Torah and through your rulings. Thus, you have forgotten the covenant of Levi, for it was concerning these two duties that I made a covenant with him.

And I also. Therefore, corresponding to the honor in which the Levite had been held by the people, among whom he had been regarded as an exalted and holy messenger of Hashem—

I have made you contemptible in the eyes of the people, and you are also truly debased before all the people. For you have fallen from your exalted position in proportion to the extent to which you do not keep My ways—as stated, “You have departed from the path”—and show partiality in applying the Torah—as stated, “You have caused many to stumble through the Torah.” To the extent that you continued to descend from the rank of the Levite and his priesthood, so did you descend into contempt and degradation.

Have we not? After rebuking them concerning the sacrifices, he begins to rebuke them for marrying foreign women. They committed two wrongs in this regard: first, they married daughters of a foreign god; second, the foreign women were treated as mistresses, while their Israelite wives were regarded as maidservants in the eyes of those foreign women. When they married women from among their own people, the union was fitting in two respects: because of their familial kinship, since they were all descendants of the chosen forefathers; and because of their shared religion and faith, since both spouses believed in one God. They thereby united, became one flesh, and produced godly offspring like themselves. But when they married daughters of a foreign god, they impaired the unity of the family. Concerning this, he says, “Have we not all one father?” They also impaired the unity of faith, concerning which he says, “Has not one God created us?” That is, all of us, the children of Israel, are descendants of one father and believe in one God. This is not so of idolaters, who come from different families and believe in different gods. How, then, can you marry a daughter of a foreign god, thereby impairing the unity of the family? Concerning this, he says, “Why should a man betray his brother?” And concerning the unity of faith, he says, “Profaning the covenant of our forefathers,” who made a covenant with the one God.

Judah has acted treacherously. This corresponds to the betrayal of the family.

And an abomination has been committed in Israel. This refers to their having married idolatrous women, which, apart from being an act of treachery, was also an abomination. This occurred both in Israel and in Jerusalem, for there too they had foreign wives. He explains: For Judah has profaned that which is holy to Hashem, which He loved, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. There was treachery in loving her, and abomination in marrying the daughter of a foreign god.

May Hashem cut off from the man who does this anyone who is awake or who answers. That is, no one will be found in his household who is awake from sleep, for they will all sleep the eternal sleep. Nor will there even be anyone dozing lightly enough to answer if called and roused from his sleep. As our Sages said, “What constitutes dozing? One who is asleep but not asleep, awake but not awake; when called, he answers.” This may refer either to the sleep of death or, as our Sages explained, to the slumber of the rational soul: “He shall have none awake among the sages or answering among the disciples.” The intellect of the sages is fully awake, while that of the disciples, although dozing, nevertheless answers and awakens when aroused. Likewise, if the man is a priest, there will be no one in his household who presents an offering to Hashem, for his children will follow their foreign mothers and will have a share neither in Torah nor in the Temple service.

And this second thing you do. In addition to this, you commit another sin: the Hebrew women are oppressed under the authority of the foreign women, and they cover the altar with tears, weeping, and groaning, so that He can no longer turn toward your offering or accept it favorably from your hand. For before the altar they submit their case against you to the judgment of Heaven, as Solomon said in his prayer: “If a man sins against another, and an oath is imposed upon him … and the oath comes before Your altar, then You shall hear in heaven….”

And you say, “Why?” Why is this sin so grave? He replies: Because Hashem has borne witness between you and the wife of your youth. Hashem is the witness between you. At the outset, Hashem witnessed the bond established between you when you betrothed her through the marriage canopy and kiddushin before Hashem; He testifies that it was done in His presence. And now He is the witness who warns you because you have betrayed her. You have violated the bond you formed with her, although she has not betrayed you: not through quarrels and disputes, for she is your companion; nor by committing adultery against her husband, for she is the wife of your covenant and has not violated the marital covenant.

And did He not make one, with a remnant? He adduces proof of their sin from the creation of man. When Hashem created humanity, He did not create the male and female separately, as He created the other animals. Adam was initially created alone, and Eve was one of his ribs and was originally one body with him—as our Sages said, “They were created with two faces.” This is the meaning of “And did He not make one, with his flesh?” Hashem made the man one body together with his flesh—meaning his wife; the two were joined together when man was created.

And He made a spirit for him. The man and the flesh joined to him shared one spirit. Thus, the two were created as one flesh and one spirit, unlike the other living creatures, which were created in pairs, separate both in body and in spirit. Why did He do this? Why did He not create the man and his wife immediately as separate beings? It was to teach that a man’s spouse must resemble him and be united with him: in flesh, by belonging to his people and ancestral house; and in spirit, by sharing the same religion and faith. This is the meaning of “Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?”—just as the first man and his wife were originally one flesh and one spirit. This is the meaning of “And what does the one signify?” That is, what is the purpose of the oneness and unity that must exist between the spouses? He answers: He seeks godly offspring. Through their unity in flesh and spirit, the offspring born of this union will be godly offspring, not a mixed and incongruous offspring like that of animals, which do not preserve kinship and unity, but offspring like that of Adam, who begot a child in his likeness and image—the image of God. Therefore, guard yourselves in your spirit: restrain the appetitive spirit.

And let no one betray the wife of his youth: let your spirit not betray the wife of your youth by hating her and loving another in her place, since the purpose of creation was that the two should share one spirit—a spirit of love and mutual affection.

For if he hates her. If your spirit hates the woman, is displeased with her, and you cannot restrain your spirit from hating her, then send her away, says Hashem of Hosts. Did He not say in the Torah that if she finds no favor in his eyes, he must write her a bill of divorce and send her from his house?

And it will cover the violence upon his garment. Sending her away will cover the violence upon his garment. That is, although this too is an act of violence, it is nevertheless covered and concealed violence. This is unlike keeping her in his house and treating her cruelly out of hatred, which is a very blatant act of violence. Better than either course, however, is that you guard yourselves in your spirit and do not act treacherously at all, so that you need never come to hatred and divorce.

You have wearied Hashem with your words. After rebuking them for the wickedness of their deeds, he proceeds to rebuke them for the wickedness of their thoughts—their heretical and faithless ideas. He says: You attribute weariness to Hashem, as though fatigue and exhaustion existed before Him and He were incapable of exercising Providence over individual deeds and repaying each person according to his actions. He explains: By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of Hashem.” That is, you cite the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous as proof that there is no Providence and no judgment or reckoning. For you say that one of two conclusions must necessarily be true: either there is Providence, but one who does evil is good in Hashem’s eyes, and therefore He does not punish the evildoer—

Or, since that is false, the question arises: “Where is the God of justice?” Why does He not punish the evildoer in accordance with justice and righteousness? The phrase “And He delights in them” means: either evil is not evil at all but is good in Hashem’s eyes; or, if it is evil, He delights in evil and does not desire good at all; or else, where is the God of justice? Thus you question and argue. In the following passage, he proceeds to answer them.