Malachi 3
1 Look, I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant you desire. Look, he is coming, says the LORD of Hosts.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.
3 He will sit like one who melts and purifies silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings of grain to the LORD in righteousness.
4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD, as in days long ago and in years past.
5 I will come near to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, adulterers, and those who swear falsely; against those who withhold a worker’s wages, oppress the widow and the orphan, deny justice to the foreigner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of Hosts.
6 For I, the LORD, do not change; and you, sons of Jacob, have not been consumed.
7 From the days of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts. But you ask, “How should we return?”
8 Can a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you ask, “How have we robbed you?” In the tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse—the whole nation—because you are robbing me.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so there may be food in my house. Put me to the test in this, says the LORD of Hosts, and see whether I will not open the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out a blessing beyond measure.
11 I will rebuke the devourer for your sake, and it will not destroy the fruit of your land; the vine in the field will not fail to bear fruit, says the LORD of Hosts.
12 All nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the LORD of Hosts.
13 Your words have been harsh against me, says the LORD. But you ask, “What have we said against you?”
14 You have said, “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping his commands and walking in mourning before the LORD of Hosts?
15 Now we call the arrogant blessed. Those who do evil prosper; they even put God to the test and escape.”
16 Then those who fear the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the LORD and honor his name.
17 They will be mine, says the LORD of Hosts, on the day when I act. They will be my treasured possession, and I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on the son who serves him.
18 Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.
19 For the day is coming, burning like a furnace. All the arrogant and all who do evil will be stubble, and the coming day will set them ablaze, says the LORD of Hosts. It will leave them neither root nor branch.
20 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, bringing healing in its wings. You will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.
21 You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act, says the LORD of Hosts.
22 Remember the Law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel: decrees and ordinances.
23 Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible Day of the LORD comes.
24 He will turn the hearts of the fathers toward their children, and the hearts of the children toward their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with utter destruction.
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