3
1 “Behold, I send my
messenger, and he
will prepare the
way before me!
The Lord, whom
you seek, will
suddenly come to
his temple. Behold,
the messenger of
the covenant, whom
you desire, is
coming!” says the
LORD of Armies.
2 “But
who can endure
the day of
his coming? And
who will stand
when he appears?
For he is
like a refiner’s
fire, and like launderers’
soap;
3 and
he will sit
as a refiner
and purifier of
silver, and he
will purify the
sons of Levi,
and refine them
as gold and
silver; and they
shall offer to
the LORD offerings
in righteousness.
4 Then
the offering of
Judah and
Jerusalem will be
pleasant to the
LORD as in
the days of
old and as
in ancient years.
5 I
will come near
to you to
judgment. I will
be a swift
witness against
the sorcerers,
against the
adulterers, against
the perjurers, and
against those who
oppress the
hireling in his
wages, the widow,
and the fatherless,
and who deprive
the foreigner of
justice, and don’t
fear me,” says the
LORD of Armies.
6 “For
I, the LORD, don’t
change; therefore
you, sons of
Jacob, are not
consumed.
7 From
the days of
your fathers you
have turned away
from my ordinances
and have not
kept them. Return
to me, and
I will return
to you,” says the
LORD of Armies. “But
you say, ‘How
shall we return?’
8 Will
a man rob God? Yet
you rob me!
But you say, ‘How
have we robbed
you?’ In tithes
and offerings.
9 You
are cursed with
the curse; for
you rob me, even
this whole nation.
10 Bring
the whole tithe
into the storehouse,
that there may
be food in
my house, and test
me now in
this,” says the
LORD of Armies, “if
I will not
open you
the windows of
heaven, and pour
you out a
blessing, that
there will not
be enough room
for.
11 I
will rebuke
the devourer for
your sakes, and he
shall not destroy
the fruits of
your ground;
neither shall your
vine cast its
fruit before its
time in the
field,” says the
LORD of Armies.
12 “All
nations shall call
you blessed, for
you will be
a delightful land,” says
the LORD of
Armies.
13 “Your
words have
been harsh against
me,” says the
LORD. “Yet you
say, ‘What have
we spoken against
you?’
14 You
have said, ‘It is
vain to serve
God,’ and ‘What
profit is it
that we have
followed his
instructions and
that we have
walked mournfully
before the LORD
of Armies?
15 Now
we call the
proud happy; yes,
those who work
wickedness are
built up; yes,
they tempt God, and
escape.’
16 Then
those who feared
the LORD spoke
one with another;
and the LORD
listened and heard,
and a book
of memory was
written before him
for those who
feared the LORD
and who honored
his name.
17 They
shall be mine,” says
the LORD of
Armies, “my own
possession in the
day that I
make. I will
spare them, as
a man spares
his own son
who serves him.
18 Then
you shall return
and discern between
the righteous and
the wicked, between
him who serves
God and him
who doesn’t serve
him.